Warped Perception
by AFScorpio91
Summary: An unexpected ally shows up on Peter's doorstep with some surprising news. New super-humans in town threaten Peter and his family's lives. Tensions run high and Peter may have to make difficult choices when friends becomes enemies and vice versa. Part 2 of 3
1. Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Marvel or The Amazing Spider-Man.

*This story takes place about 10 years after the first story.

It was a bright sunny day. Peter wanted nothing more than to be swinging through the city, feeling the cool breeze against his face. Instead, he was sitting inside Lonestar on a date that he promised his family he would go on.

He was absentmindedly sliding his grilled chicken around on his plate. Aunt May had been trying to get Peter to go on a date with her coworker's daughter for the past several months. She was currently watching his two children, Andrew and Violet. He took a bite of his chicken and attempted to listen to whatever the girl in front of him was talking about.

"And yeah, so she was like there's no way that would happen. And I told her that she was like totally wrong. But she didn't believe me and she did do it, and it totally did happen!" She smiled at him, waiting for a response.

"Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's great," he quickly responded, mentally cringing. What was he doing here?

She took a sip from her water and nodded to him. "I know, right!"

Two small children ran past their table, bumping it as they ran past. Her glass of water tipped over and spilled.

"Oh here, I got it." Peter stood up and began drying up the water with a couple napkins.

"Oh my gosh, I cannot believe that just happened. I have water in my salad. Where are their parents?" She crossed her arms and peered around the room.

Peter rolled his eyes without her seeing. "It's fine. Here, I can buy you a new salad."

"No, that's fine. Sweet of you, though." She smiled at him as he sat back down. "I just don't get what the appeal of having children is. I'm, like, going to be twenty-seven this year and I still don't want any, and I don't think I ever will." The kids ran past the table again and she rolled her eyes.

"You're not much of a 'kid' person?" Peter asked.

"Not at all." She gestured for a waiter to come to their table.

"How may I help you?" the waiter asked.

She gestured to her empty water glass. "Those children over there like, spilled my water. Can I have a new glass?"

"Of course." He grabbed the empty glass and walked away.

Peter took another bite of his chicken. He couldn't wait for this lunch to be over.

"So what about you? Do you want kids some day?" she asked.

He shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not sure if I'd want any more."

"You have a kid?" she questioned, her eyes wide. The waiter came over and set down a new glass of water on the table for her.

"Yeah, I have two actually. They're twins." He smiled and sipped his Coke.

"Oh. That's.. nice. How old are they?" She didn't look like she thought this was 'nice' news. In fact, her nose was slightly turned up at him. He tried not to laugh at how ridiculous she looked.

"Just turned ten last week." He inwardly smiled at her reaction. She definitely hadn't expected any of this.

"Ten!? Wait, how old are you?" she raised her eyebrow.

"I'll be thirty in a couple of weeks."

She stared at him for what seemed like forever. "Wow, you don't even look that old. I thought you were my age."

Peter just shrugged at her.

"Wait, so you were only nineteen when they were born?"

"Yup." He took the last sip of his Coke.

She reached across the table and grabbed his left hand and pulled it forward and then released it.

"What are you doing?" Peter asked, staring at his hand.

"I was checking to see if you had a ring on. You're not married, are you? Please don't tell me I'm like on a date with a married guy who has kids."

"No, no I'm not married," he sniffed.

"Then where's their mother fit into all of this?" She raised an eyebrow and gave him a smug smile.

Peter stiffened at this. "She... she passed away giving birth to them." This was the story that people outside of their family heard.

The girl froze and then shook her head. "I am so, so sorry. I totally didn't mean anything by- I just didn't know."

"It's fine," Peter told her as the waiter came over. "Can we please have the check?"

"Yes, I'll be back in one moment," the waiter said as he strode off.

They spent the next couple minutes in awkward silence waiting for the check. The waiter finally came over and set it on the table. Peter took out two twenty dollar bills and set them on the table and then quickly stood up.

"So like, did you want my number or something? Are we going to go out again?" she asked him as she got out of her chair. He groaned, thinking she was the one who was going to have to say no to a second date.

"Um- no offense, Jessica, but I don't think you and I should go out again together. I just don't have time to date anyone right now."

The girl nodded to him and grabbed her purse. "It's Jennifer, by the way." She rolled her eyes and walked the opposite way. "Jerk," she muttered before she left.

Peter laughed to himself as he left the restaurant. He knew her name was Jennifer, but had hoped if he didn't seem interested in her, she wouldn't bother with him again.

The walk home from the restaurant was about forty minutes, but he didn't mind. It felt good to actually walk among people every once in awhile, instead of always being stories above them.

Suddenly, a women in front of him loudly gasped and pointed her finger at Peter, an excited look in her eyes.

"Look, it's Spider-Man!" she yelled.

Peter's eyes got wide and he looked around to see if anyone else was looking at him, but it seemed they were actually focused on something behind him. He quickly turned his body to see what everyone was staring at, because, obviously, it wasn't Spider-Man.

A flash of red and black whirred passed everyone and the cheers of people filled the air. The 'Spider-Man' did a few flips in the air and then carried on.

Peter sighed and shook his head.

Most people might not notice because of how high up this 'Spider-Man' was, but with his keen eyesight, he could clearly see this person wasn't even five feet tall yet.

He continued walking home and pulled out his cell phone to give Aunt May a call.

"Hello honey, how did your date with Jennifer go?" Aunt May answered.

"Where are the twins?" he said in a clipped tone.

"Th-they're here with me, Peter. Why what's wrong?" Aunt May sounded confused.

"Can you please go check on them?"

Peter could hear her footsteps through the phone.

"Of course I can. Let's see here... Violet is reading in her bedroom. Let me check on Andrew, hold on one second, Peter."

"No problem, Aunt May." He waited about a minute before he broke the silence. "So, is he in his bedroom too?"

"I- no he wasn't in there. I'm just checking through the house right now, but I just—"

Peter sighed again and squeezed his eyes shut. He did not want to have to deal with this again.

"It's fine, Aunt May. I'll be there shortly." He hung up his phone and hurried home.

When he finally got back to his house, Aunt May was waiting for him on the porch.

"I can't find him anywhere, Peter! He told me he was just going to watch the TV in his bedroom, and now he's nowhere." She looked worried.

Peter hastily walked up the stairs to his house, "I think I know where he went." he said, scowling.

He walked into the house and Violet came running down the stairs.

"Hi Daddy!" she yelled as she squeezed him around the waist. "How did your date go?" she asked with a cheeky smile.

He rolled his eyes and gave a small laugh. "We'll talk about that later. Where's your brother?"

Violet let go of him and attempted to put a puzzled look on her face. "He's in his bedroom, isn't he?"

Peter raised an eyebrow at her as Aunt May walked into the house.

"No, he isn't," Aunt May answered, crossing her arms.

Violet looked between the two and looked torn.

"I- I promised not to tell," she whispered.

"Violet—" Peter began but was interrupted by a loud noise upstairs. He began to ascend up the steps when Violet grabbed him by the hand.

"Wait, maybe he's at his friends' house next door! I think that's where he is," she said, trying to pull him back.

"Violet, enough." He gave her a stern look and she let go of him with a defeated looked on her face.

Peter opened up his son's bedroom door and wasn't surprised at what he saw. Andrew quickly looked up at him with a deer-in-the-headlights expression on his face that Peter would have laughed at if it was a different situation.

"Dad! You're home early," Andrew said with a guilty smile as he finished pulling his hoodie over himself.

Peter narrowed his eyes at him. "It's over ninety degrees outside and you're wearing a hoodie?"

"Yeah... I just really like it." He shrugged. It was an over-sized black hoodie with a red Spider-Man symbol on the front.

"Take off the hoodie, Andrew."

"Dad—"

"Take off the damn hoodie!" Peter raised his voice.

Andrew huffed and rolled his eyes. He quickly took off the hoodie and tossed it on the bed, revealing the red and black suit underneath.

Peter shook his head at him. "This is the third time this summer, Andrew. You only have three weeks before school starts, and now you're going to be grounded for those three weeks."

"What!" he yelled. "That's not fair!"

"How is it not fair? I told you what would happen if you went out and pretended to be Spider-Man again."

"I'm not _pretending_ to be Spider-Man! I'm calling myself Web-Weaver."

Peter pinched the bridge of his nose. "Andrew! I don't care who you're saying you are. You're not going to go out into the city in your suit again."

Andrew smirked and raised an eyebrow. "So I can go out in my regular clothes?"

"If you're with family and not swinging around."

He sighed and sat down on his bed. "This isn't fair. You get to go out and be a super hero and all I want to do is help and you won't let me."

"You're ten years old."

"So? I can take out guys twice my size. You know I can handle myself out there against petty thieves and robbers." Andrew crossed his arms.

"You know as well as I do that that's not always the only thing we have to worry about," Peter said in a somber tone.

"Well, I wouldn't go after them! I'd stick to what I can handle. Violet could come with me, we could be a team. She's the one who made our suits."

Peter laughed and shook his head. "Yeah, I know she made them. But when I gave her permission to do it, it wasn't so you could go off and fight crime. You two told me you just wanted to use them for Halloween costumes."

Andrew just stared at him with an upset look on his face.

"Look, when you're older, and after the proper training, you can fight crime too. It's too dangerous for you right now." He walked over to him and put his hand on his son's shoulder, but he shook it off.

"Whatever," Andrew answered.

Peter walked towards the door. "I mean it, though. You're grounded until school starts again. No TV, no video games, no friends. Three weeks." He opened up the door and went to shut it when he heard his son mumble something.

"Just gonna do it again."

Peter opened up the door again. "What was that?"

"I said I'm just going to do it again. It's not a crime to stop crime." He stared at him with a defiant look.

"Believe me, if there is a next time, I _will_ take drastic measures." He shut the door a little more loudly than necessary and then went downstairs.

Violet walked up to him with a regretful look on her face. "Sorry I didn't call you to tell you he was sneaking out. He made me promise not to tell and you know I hate breaking my promise."

Peter smiled and looked down at his daughter. "I know you do, Vi. But, your brother could have gotten into a lot of trouble today. He could have been hurt. You two are not old enough to be doing this, okay?"

She nodded to him. "Okay, Daddy. I'm sorry."

"Next time he decides to do this, I hope you'll talk some sense into him, or call me to tell me. Your brother is grounded for three weeks."

Violet looked like she was about to argue, but she let it drop and nodded again.

"Okay. I'm going back to my room to finish reading my story."

"That's fine, Vi," he said and she raced back upstairs.

Aunt May walked over to Peter with a small smile on her face.

"I told you that you'd have your hands full."

Peter just rolled his eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

"I'm telling you, Peter, you need to keep an eye on those two. Especially Andrew. He seems to have a taste for the hero lifestyle." Aunt May pursed her lips as she walked into the kitchen.

"Hey, you were the one who was supposed to be watching them," he retorted, following her. The kitchen was one of the smallest rooms in his house. He and the twins had moved into the new house about three years ago, allowing Aunt May some privacy.

She put her hands on her hips with an incredulous expression on her face. "I had just checked up on him no more than thirty minutes before you called."

Peter sat at the kitchen table and ran his hand through his hair. "He's a sneaky one."

" _He_ gets that from _you._ " Aunt May nodded towards him. "Now, your birthday is coming up soon. Do you have anything planned?"

"Nah, no plans really. Might rent some movies and have a night in with Vi and Andrew." He just didn't feel like celebrating that much.

"Peter, it's your 30th birthday. You have to do something fun."

"I don't know, really. The kids were talking about wanting to go to the zoo. Maybe I'll bring them to the Bronx Zoo." He shrugged.

"It's _your_ birthday. Do what would make you happy," Aunt May insisted.

He thought for a moment before replying, "Them happy makes me happy."

She nodded and began searching through his cabinets. Peter watched her with a smile on his face.

"Looking for something?" he grinned. Every time she came over he found it hilarious when she would get frustrated at how unorganized his kitchen was.

She shut one of the cabinets and turned to him. "Yes, I am in fact. Where do you keep the can opener around here? I was going to make a quick bowl of soup before you came home but I need the can opener."

"Oh, uh—" He got up and opened up a drawer off to the side of the fridge. "Here you go."

"I swear, Peter, next time I come over here to watch the twins, I'm reorganizing your whole house. I can never find anything I need without searching for an hour!"

"Maybe I'll have Andrew do that as a punishment," he joked. "I don't know what I'm going to do with that kid."

Aunt May opened up some tomato basil soup and put it in the microwave. "You just have to stick with what you tell him. He's grounded for three weeks, so don't let him off early. School is starting soon. He's going to need to focus on schoolwork and not worry about 'saving the city.'"

"Tell me about it," Peter said, shaking his head. "I can't believe Vi didn't call me to tell me he snuck out. She knows better than that. That's not like her."

The microwave began to beep and Aunt May took out her soup and began stirring it. "Those two are thick as thieves. They may argue among themselves on a daily basis, but they would never betray each other."

"But she knows how dangerous it is out there!" he raised his voice. "You can't just put on a costume and save the city and not expect to make any enemies."

"I believe that's why she was having difficulties deciding on whether or not to tell you," Aunt May said slowly. "You know as well as I do, though, that if he were in any serious trouble, she would automatically know, and vice versa."

Peter nodded slightly. His children were incredibly gifted and every so often, it seemed, he would find out something new about them. They had inherited his spider-sense, but they had also developed another sense. When one of them were in trouble, the other was instantly able to sense it.

When the twins were six, Aunt May took Andrew to go ice skating with her. Violet had been sick that day. They were ice skating on a frozen pond, and the flag was green, signaling it was safe to skate on. Despite the flag, Andrew had skated over a thin patch on the ice and fell into the dangerously cold waters. Peter remembered Violet jumping up from her bed, announcing that Andrew was in danger and that she knew where he was. He tried calming her down, thinking she'd had a nightmare, and called Aunt May to humor her. It turned out she was on her way to the hospital with Andrew. He was okay in the end, but ever since then, if one of the twins were in danger, the other instantly knew.

"It doesn't change the fact that it was completely reckless of them. I mean yeah, she could have told me he was in danger, but what if I didn't make it in time to save him? What then?" Peter looked at her.

"Maybe..." she began thoughtfully, "maybe one day you can bring them out with you into the city. That way they'd be with you and you'd know if they were safe or not. You'd be able to teach them things about- about what you do. It would give you all a chance to bond, I think."

"Aunt May, I'm surprised at you. Are you actually _condoning_ my actions?" he asked with his signature crooked grin.

"I lost that battle with you a long time ago. I'm just saying maybe he wouldn't try sneaking out as much if you guys went out together."

"Maybe." Peter conceded.

The truth was, he was terrified of his children out there in the city, fighting crime. Even if they were just tagging along with him... people cannot know that Spider-Man has children. They would instantly be targets. It's not the type of life he wanted for his kids. When they were old enough, they could choose for themselves. But he didn't want to pressure them into this life.

Just thinking that made him laugh. Of course he wouldn't be pressuring them into this. They both _want_ to be out there, making a difference in this city.

"What about their safety?" he asked in a quiet voice, not wanting them to overhear him.

"That's what I'm thinking about when I'm telling you to take them out with you, and sometime soon. They need to be prepared for what's out there. You can be the one who teaches them how to protect themselves. It's either that or he is going to just keep sneaking out. How much longer until Violet starts too, Peter?"

"She wouldn't."

"If she thinks she needs to protect or help her brother, she will."

"They're only ten years old. They're just kids." He shook his head.

Aunt May leaned across the table and placed her hand on top of his.

"You're right, they are just kids. Then again, you know as well as I do that they're also not _just kids_." She winked.

Peter looked up at Aunt May. He didn't want to admit it but she was right.

He let out a loud sigh. "Okay, okay. But he is still grounded. I'll have to wait until his three weeks are up, and then I'll do it."

"Great." She smiled. "I can't believe they're starting 6th grade this year. They'll be the youngest in their grade, seeing as they're skipping 5th."

"Mhm," he answered, laying his head in his arms on the table.

Aunt May ruffled up his hair. "You're doing the right thing."

"I hope so," he said in a muffled voice.

* * *

"Good going, genius," Violet said to her brother as she walked into his bedroom and shut the door behind her. Andrew was lying on his bed, throwing his mask up in the air and catching it.

Andrew looked over and rolled his eyes. "You were supposed to cover for me."

"Excuse me? I tried. Dad knew before he even walked into the house. He must have seen you again." She crossed her arms.

"This isn't fair," he said as he sat up from his bed. "Dad can do whatever he wants but when I want to help, I get grounded. It's not like I'm failing a class or doing anything illegal. He acts as if me wanting to be a superhero is the end of the world."

"Well, he's an adult," she said with a smirk on her face. "And I'm sure if you were failing a class, he would think it was the end of the world."

Andrew sniffed. "Yeah well, I'm just sick of getting in trouble for helping people. You know, today I stopped a robber from running away from the police."

Violet's eyes lit up and she sat on the end of her brother's bed. "Are you serious!? What happened!"

"Well, I heard shouting and swung as quickly as I could, but it looked like I was too late, the guy had already run off with the money. Some people saw me and pointed in the direction the guy had run. When I caught up to him, there were two officers in pursuit, on foot because he was zipping in between the alleyways. When the guy turned around one of the corners, I quickly shot out a web and his feet got stuck together and he tripped and fell. Police caught up shortly after that, but I was on top of a building when they came. I didn't want to answer any questions."

"Wow. That's really cool."

"I know," he said with a smug smile. "I didn't tell you about the time beforehand I was about to dodge my first bullet."

"What!" she shrieked and then covered her mouth. She waited to make sure nobody was coming up the stairs before continuing. "Are you crazy! See, this is what Dad doesn't want."

He shrugged and ran his hand through his messy brown hair. "It was so easy I could have done it with my eyes closed."

"You're unbelievable." She shook her head.

"You should come out with me one day. We would be an awesome team."

"Please," she laughed. "I'm not getting grounded too."

"Yeah, like Dad would ever ground _you_ ," he said with an annoyed expression. "You've probably only been in trouble once in your life. He would probably ground me double time for 'talking you into it' or whatever. And you'd be off scot-free."

"That's not fair, Andrew," she said with a hurt look on her face. "I would get in just as much trouble as you."

He jumped off the bed and went over to his closet and began rummaging around.

"What are you looking for?" she got off the end of the bed and walked over to him.

"Just want to show you something." He pulled out a medium sized box, and Violet huffed when she saw it.

"I'm not going against what Dad says. You think he was mad today... can you imagine how mad he'll be if you go out again so soon?"

He took his costume out of the box and put it aside. Under it was a different costume, one that was similar to his own, except there was a blue glitter shimmer added to some of the areas, giving it a more feminine look. Also, the shoes to the costume had black glitter on the web designs.

"I have both of our outfits in here. I'm not saying we should go out today, but soon, Vi. If we're both going out, maybe he'll see that he's wrong, and we are ready for this. We would need to find something big going on, and stop it. We need to prove to Dad that we can handle these kind of things," he said in a serious tone.

"Andrew—"

"Just think about it, Vi," he said as he put the costumes back into the box and slid it into the closet again, tossing some of his clothes over the box.

"It's going to be Dad's 30th birthday soon. _And,_ it's his golden birthday, July 30th. Do you really want to ruin this for him?"

Andrew tossed himself on his bed again and began throwing his mask up in the air. "Look, if you really don't want to help me save innocent people, that's fine. I can do it by myself, I have been all summer long. You can stay at home and read your books and watch TV, and suck up to Dad all you want, but—"

He stopped talking when his mask didn't fall back into his hands. He tilted his head upwards and saw that Violet had shot out a strand of webbing and caught it in the air.

"Fine, I'm in." She pulled the mask off the web strand and tossed it back to him. "But when we get in trouble, and we will, I get to say 'I told you so'."

"Deal." he smirked.


	3. Chapter 3

Peter gave Aunt May a hug before she left to go home. He insisted on paying her for helping with the twins but she refused to take his money. Before she left, he quickly slipped two twenty dollar bills into her purse.

It wasn't that he was struggling for money right now; it was actually the opposite. His time working for Harry allowed him to start saving up, and his old friend hadn't been exactly honest about how much he was giving him. In just the couple months he had worked for him, he had nearly fifteen thousand dollars.

Then there was the fact that Harry had left Peter everything. His company, his mansion, his money, everything.

At the time, Peter had been in such shock that when told about it, he had told the estate agent that he didn't want any of it. Felicia had caught up with him not too long afterwards. He remembered the last conversation he had with her perfectly...

* * *

"I know that it's soon, and you're still in pretty bad shape after everything that's happened," Felicia said, trying to calm Peter down. They were in Aunt May's kitchen with the twins sleeping upstairs.

A hysterical laugh escaped Peter's mouth. "Soon!? I just watched my best friend get stabbed and poisoned right in front of me, and I wasn't able to do anything! He wouldn't let me, Felicia! A week before that, my fiancee was murdered. Now, I'm supposed to act like everything is okay and just take over Oscorp? Move my family into the Osborn mansion? No... no way." His voice shook.

Felicia rolled her eyes. "No, you're not supposed to act like everything is fine, because it's not. I know you and I don't get along, but we both lost him."

"Why didn't he just leave it all to you," he said more to himself then anything.

"Oh, please," she laughed. "I'm doing pretty well for myself. I don't need Harry's money. You were his favorite anyway," she said with a sneer on her face. "But listen, I don't think you should just give away the business. I think we should make a deal."

"What kind of deal?"

"For now, how about you and I become the owners? We can share it. That way you don't have to worry about running things. Every once in awhile you'll need to go to a meeting, approve or disapprove of projects every now and then, that way you will still know what's going on in Oscorp. That's what Harry would do. I can handle the more detailed stuff."

Peter huffed and stared at the piece of paper in his hands: the deed to Osborn Mansion. "This is a lot to take in right now, Felicia."

He heard a cry from upstairs and excused himself from the table. A moment later he was coming down the stairs with a baby wrapped in a red and blue blanket, black designs swirling around it.

"Which one is that?" Felicia questioned.

"Violet. Andrew doesn't really cry ever," he answered, cradling the baby against him.

He felt her eyes follow him as he made a bottle for the baby. It was rather peculiar; the same lady that had betrayed his family was sitting there in his aunt's kitchen with them. He felt his anger rising but he gritted his teeth and let it pass. It didn't do well to dwell on revenge. This he knew firsthand.

"I don't like being in debt to people, so let me take care of this stuff for you. I'm not letting you just throw this all away. Keep ownership of the mansion, keep the money. I'll make the payments for you and everything. Dealing with Oscorp now, like I said, we can have a co-ownership deal. I'll help you through this, Par-Peter."

He glanced up at her as Violet was drinking. She didn't seem to be deceiving him in any way; then again, even if she was trying to take full ownership of the company or mansion, he didn't really care. He just wanted his friend and fiancee back. He didn't care about the stuff or the money.

"Okay, Felicia. But I want as little to do with this stuff as possible. My main responsibility right now is to take care of my family, Spider-Man comes second. So all of this other stuff isn't very high on my priority list."

Felicia tried to hide her grin. Without him, she wouldn't be involved in the company whatsoever anymore, so it was evident she liked his answer.

"Great. Then, this is where we part. I'll get back to you shortly about the details. I'm sure after that, we won't really need to see much of each other at all," she said as she started packing up the papers.

A small smile spread across Peter's face. It was like she had read his mind. "Sounds good. The less I see of you the better."

"Couldn't have said it better myself." she nodded.

* * *

After that night, he spoke with her over the phone every couple of months. He only had to see her in person several times at the more important meetings. It was just odd that the last two years he hadn't seen her at all. Not that he was complaining, but she would only ever answer his emails, and even then it was the shortest vague replies. He almost missed her sarcastic remarks... almost.

He checked the time, noticing it was nearly six. He had a couple hours to kill before his nightly sweep of the city.

He turned the TV on just as Violet came running down the stairs.

"You forgot to tell me about your date!" she said as she sat next to him on the couch.

"Oh uh- yeah, it went okay." He nodded and laughed when Violet raised an eyebrow. "Okay, maybe not so well. Let's just say I won't be seeing her again."

She sighed and leaned her head on his shoulder. "When are you going to get a girlfriend?"

"Why are you and Aunt May trying so hard to get me to get a girlfriend?" he replied, tousling her hair. She responded with a mock pout and straightened up her hair.

"I just want you to be happy, Daddy." she shrugged.

Peter scrunched up his face. "What do you mean? I _am_ happy. I have you and your brother, and you guys are all I need." He smiled at her. "Besides, do you really think I have time to date? Between work, Spider-Man, and helping you two with all your advanced classes, it wouldn't be fair to whomever I was seeing."

"You're just making excuses." She looked up at him and smirked.

"Excuses? You do remember a certain girl named Emily that I brought home for you guys to meet last year, right?"

Violet threw her hands up. "How can I forget? That lady was such a—"

Peter gave her an unamused expression and raised his eyebrow at her.

"Well, she was," she grumbled to herself.

They sat in silence for a minute, watching the television.

"Okay, maybe she was," Peter agreed.

"Don't worry, Daddy. The right lady for you is out there somewhere," she said as she snuggled up against him.

He was about to answer when the familiar beeping of the Spider-Pager went off. He quickly kissed Violet on the forehead and got ready.

"I'll be back as quickly as I can. You and your brother stay in the house," he said to her as he rushed out of the house.

After pressing the button notifying the police he was on the way, they informed him that there was a bank robbery going on with hostages. He made his way to the coordinates they gave him.

There was already a huge police blockade when he got there. Swiftly landing on a parked police cruiser nearby, he surveyed the scene. He shook his head as the bystanders crowded the blockade, eager to see what was going on. Loud noises came from inside the bank, and a dozen police officers surrounded the building with their weapons drawn.

"Spider-Man!" A bulky police officer with sandy blonde hair made his way over to Peter. His name tag read Officer Kirkman. "There are two suspects inside that we know of. One of them was wearing some sort of helmet, and he was floating!"

"How many hostages are in there?"

"Two. A mother and her son. He's just a kid. Looked to be about nine or ten years old."

Only two? Should be a piece of cake, he thought.

"I'll get them out," Peter said and was about to swing away when the officer stopped him. "What?" he questioned quickly.

The officer seemed like he didn't really know what to say. "The other suspect, she- my partner Murdock swears that she was—" he mumbled.

"Look, Officer Kirkman, I've got to get to work," Peter said as he took a megaphone from another officer and landed on the steps leading up to the bank. He didn't have time to chat about the details when there were hostages.

He put the megaphone up to his mouth. "Bank robbers, this is Spider-Man speaking. I'm going to have to ask you to release the hostages."

Peter waited nearly thirty seconds, and then another loud noise erupted from inside. Bystanders screamed and backed away a few feet. He could only guess that they were breaking into the vault, but he didn't want to startle them and end up getting the hostages hurt, so he tried again to get their attention.

"I know you can hear me, so I'm going to ask you one more time. Release the hostages!"

Not even ten seconds later, the front doors opened and a man walked—no, floated—out. He was wearing all green and had a flowing purple cape. Peter suspected it was a man, but he couldn't see what he looked like behind the one-way glass helmet. A small boy with short blonde hair walked out next to him.

"We will release the boy, but to ensure we are not followed, the woman stays with us," the man yelled.

"And who are you supposed to be?" he contained his laughter at the typical super-villian attire.

"You can call me Mysterio!" the villian yelled in a proud voice.

"Okay then, Mysterio. Let the boy go. Now."

Mysterio raised his hands into the air and the police officers visibly tensed up, when suddenly they all lowered their weapons and their eyes glazed over. It was as if they had been put into some sort of trance. He let go of the boy, who came running down the steps towards Peter. The villain floated back inside the bank just as the police officers started coming out of the trance.

"Come on, kid." Peter picked up the boy who wrapped his arms around his neck, and brought him over to the nearest police officer. The officer quickly brought him to the ambulance. Peter swung back towards the bank.

He could clearly hear the woman inside pleading for them to let her go. He decided his best bet was to go inside to try to diffuse the situation; this Mysterio guy had already released the boy. Maybe he could talk him into letting the mother go as well.

Peter opened up the front doors slowly. All of the lights were out. "It's just me coming inside. The police are staying outside," he told Mysterio. Mysterio had several bags of money in his arms.

"Get back! You will not stop me, Spider-Man!"

Peter held his arms out in front of him in a calming way. "I just want to talk. I want you to release the woman. The money is one thing, but I can't have you harming innocent people. I'm not sure what your situation is, but you already released the boy. You don't have to make this worse on yourself. Let her go and I'll bring her outside to safety which would buy you time to hit the road."

The man in the helmet laughed. "You're lying. You would not let us go just like that."

"Help me, please!" he heard the woman cry close by.

"So, who's 'we'? Where's your partner? Can I talk to that person?" Peter wanted to keep the man talking to him.

"Of course you can," the man said in a way that Peter knew he was smiling. "Come on out, with the girl." Mysterio called out.

An office door, next to the vault slowly opened. The hostage slowly walked out first, with the man's partner behind her. A knife was held at the woman's throat. Even in the darkness, Peter could tell the man's partner was female. She was shorter than the hostage, and had long blonde hair that was showing under the black beanie she wore over her head.

"Easy, now," the partner said as they made their way next to Mysterio. Peter flinched when he heard the voice. It sounded familiar.

"Spider-Man tells me that, if we release the hostage to him now, we are both free to leave with the money and he will not pursue us," Mysterio told her.

The blonde laughed in a cynical way. "Did he now? The Spider-Man I know wouldn't just let criminals get away like that," she taunted. He could see she was wearing a black leather biker-like jacket and black pants. She sounded young, too young for something like this.

"Do I know you?" Peter questioned, an eerie feeling in his gut.

"Maybe," she said innocently.

"We need to leave, now," Mysterio said.

The blonde laughed again. "Now... what do we do with her?" she asked in a rough voice. He thought he heard Mysterio sigh.

Peter took a step closer to them. "Please, just give me the hostage, I'll let you go. Easy as that." He watched as the knife was slowly pulled away from the woman's throat. A couple more inches and he would be safe to—

"Ah!" the woman gasped out as the blonde stuck the knife into her back.

"No!" Peter shouted as the girl tossed the hostage towards him. "Don't worry, there's an ambulance outside. You'll be okay," he told the woman as he gently picked her up, trying to avoid touching her wound. The woman was doing an amazing job at remaining calm.

"Aw, such a pity," he heard the blonde tsk. "I'm guessing you're experiencing some deja vu right now, having a woman who had just been stabbed dying in your arms."

When he looked up he froze completely.

It couldn't be.

He had to be dreaming, having another nightmare.

There was simply _no way_ that Gwen Stacy was standing there in front of him.

"Might want to hurry up there, Spider-Man." The blonde winked and ran off towards the back with Mysterio.

Peter ran out the front doors with the woman and went straight to the ambulance. It seemed like his body was moving for him, because his mind was thinking of a hundred other things at this time.

He could faintly hear the paramedics talking. Apparently the stab wound was minor, and they didn't think it had hit any major organs or arteries. They took off in the ambulance.

Police officers came over and congratulated him for rescuing both hostages. The new Police Chief, Captain Winchester, patted him on the back.

"We knew you could do it, Spidey!" he said to Peter as the other officers started to get the crowd of people under control and investigate the bank.

He still wasn't completely sure if he was awake or not. There was no mistaking the face that he saw in that dark room. Her features were exactly the same as he remembered, as if she was forever frozen at nineteen.

Although her features had been an exact replica, her expressions were completely opposite from the Gwen that he knew. Where there had been ambition and happiness, he saw cruelty and sarcasm. Her voice sounded a little off, but he could still hear the familiarity of it.

It couldn't have been her! She had died. Peter had seen the whole thing. He was there for her funeral. It had been over ten years! He shook his head. It felt hard to breathe and he almost ripped his mask off before he remembered he was in public.

He felt a small pressure on his shoulder and looked up to see Captain Winchester staring at him. "You alright there, son? Don't you worry a bit about that money. What matters the most to us is those hostages you saved," he said before turning to investigate the bank with his squad.

Peter found himself on his front porch shortly after. His head was pounding as he quietly made his way inside.

"Vi? Andrew?" he called out.

"Here!" he heard them both call out at the same time. They were used to his greeting every time he came back from a patrol.

He nodded to himself and then found his way to his living room and plopped himself down on the black leather couch.

What had happened today? How did things get so crazy so fast?

Ever since the Sinister Six had basically destroyed itself, he hadn't had to deal with 'real' super villains. These days it was thieves, muggers, and the occasional bank robbery. The city had been safe for quite some time now. This guy who called himself 'Mysterio' was the first guy that had been in a costume since... well, since Harry and the others.

Then he had the Gwen look-alike to deal with. Since the moment he had laid his eyes on her his mind had been trying to process how something like that was even possible. Every possibility seemed less likely than the next.

Could it even be her? He would think it a possibility if it looked like she had aged at all, but she looked the same age as he last saw her. The word vampire had made it's way into his mind, but he quickly pushed that aside. Could it be a clone? Was the person even real? Did 'Mysterio' have something to do with her?

It couldn't have actually been Gwen Stacy. He knew that, but even with the smallest possibility of it being her, he wanted to find out.

He turned the television on and switched to the news, assuming he would see something about the break in at the bank. Instead, there was a story going on about a supposed 'terrorist' attack in Chicago, Illinois.

 _"... and as you can see, there is no way these people can be fully human. From the footage here caught on camera, the one in the red suit seems to be able to either hover or fly. The one in the black suit is using some sort of acid to cause structures to fall, as seen with the Navy Pier Ferris Wheel. The Chicago Police Force have tried to reason with the two highly dangerous suspects, but to no avail. Shots were fired and the red suit suspect was about to stop the bullets simply with a wave of the hand..."_

Peter watched as the two caused chaos seemingly without any kind of reason, and then all at once they both left the scene, leaving people confused and hurt.

Hopefully there is someone there that is about to stop those two, he thought to himself. If not, maybe he would take a side trip for a couple days. These two seemed a bit dangerous for just the police force to deal with.

His phone buzzed, startling him. What was wrong with him? He jumped and then quickly stuck his hand in his pocket to dig out his cell phone.

When he brought it out and looked at the message that was sent to him, he felt his breath catch in his throat.

 **"They'll be coming for you."**


	4. Chapter 4

Peter called the number, but it had a busy signal and no voicemail. He scoffed and pocketed his phone, not even replying to the text. It was probably some sort of joke, and if it wasn't, he had enough experience to know the sender wouldn't give him any more information; if they had wanted to, they would have sent it in the first text.

He ascended the stairs, checking on his children before he went to bed. Opening up Andrew's bedroom door, he smiled. The little rebel was curled up on his bed with the plush that he always slept with. It was a Deadpool plush, but it was a plush toy nonetheless. He quietly walked into the room and put the covers over his son.

As much as Andrew thought he was 'all grown up now,' Peter knew the true him.

Next, he checked on Violet. As he opened her bedroom door he saw that a light was still on. She was reading on her bed.

"Hey Vi, lights out soon, okay?" he whispered, not wanting to wake Andrew.

She nodded and smiled. "As soon as I finish this chapter."

Peter silently shut her door and walked to his bedroom. There were clothes tossed all over his room and some old posters from his old bedroom were taped up on his walls. The canvas picture of Mary Jane hung next to the door. His phone buzzed again causing him to roll his eyes. He sighed and took it out of his pocket.

 **"Work meeting Monday 9am. -F"**

It's just Felicia, he thought to himself. He answered her with a thanks and shut the phone off. He had about five days before he had to go back to Oscorp.

The days passed quickly and all too soon he woke to his 7:30am alarm on Monday. He showered quickly and went to his closet. He only had a handful of suits to wear; he only deemed them necessary when he had meetings at Oscorp, otherwise he stuck with his hoodies and t-shirts. He chose a dark blue suit with black pin stripes and strode downstairs for a quick breakfast.

He was surprised to see that Violet was already up and in the kitchen making toast.

"Hey sweetie, what are you doing up so early?" He kissed her forehead and opened the fridge.

"Last night you were telling me how you had a meeting today at work and so I thought I'd make you some breakfast," she said as the toast popped out of the toaster.

"Oh, wow- thanks!" He gave her a quick hug. "You're so thoughtful, I love you Vi." He took a bite of the toast and then made a face.

"Dad! I haven't even put butter on it yet!" she laughed at him.

Peter looked at the toast in his hand and shook his head. "Wow, I'm out of it I guess." Violet took the toast from his hand and put a layer of butter on it.

"Here. Maybe this will taste better." She laughed again as she put in a piece of bread in the toaster for herself.

He bit into the toast and could definitely tell the difference.

Suddenly, there were several loud thumps coming from upstairs and Andrew came into the kitchen.

"What was that noise?" Peter questioned him.

"Nothing," he huffed and grabbed a pop tart from the cabinet.

"He's still mad he's grounded so he's stomping around the house," Violet answered for him, causing Andrew to glare in her direction.

"Well, it's not very _grown-up_ of you, is it?" she emphasized the word.

Andrew seemed like he wanted to say something, but decided against it. "Whatever," he said as he took his pop tart and went back upstairs, quietly, Peter noted.

Peter could see right through their actions. Violet was obviously trying to get him ungrounded early. He looked towards her and she stared back innocently.

"What?" she questioned.

"Nothing." he shrugged. "I have to get going now. You can play in the yard while I'm gone, but don't leave. Andrew stays in his room. I'll be back before lunchtime." He kissed her forehead again and headed towards the front door.

"Dad—" Violet started. Peter paused at the front door, waiting for what he knew was coming. "—it's been a week already. Is he really grounded for another two weeks?"

"Yes, Vi." He paused with his hand on the doorknob.

"But your birthday is in two days. I know you don't want one of your children grounded for your birthday." She smiled deviously.

He took his hand off of the doorknob. "Now what would make you say that?"

"I may have heard Aunt May talking about you taking us to the zoo for your birthday."

Peter slightly narrowed his eyes at her. "Well, maybe I changed my mind. Maybe I'll have Aunt May watch your brother while I bring you to the zoo."

"You know we wouldn't have nearly as much fun without him," she pointed out.

They seemed to have a stare down for a half minute. Finally, Peter caved in. "Look, we'll talk about it later, okay? Don't say anything to your brother. If he's good today and tomorrow, then maybe, _maybe,_ I'll let him off early."

"Yes! Thanks Daddy!" she screamed and engulfed him in a hug.

"Shh, your brother," Peter reminded her and she smiled sheepishly at him. "I love you, got to go." He shut the front door.

He made it to Oscorp barely on time. The front gate security let him right on through and he rushed up to the board meeting office. As usual, Felicia's assistant was there in place of herself. Peter sighed. Due to Felicia's request, her assistant had become _their_ assistant.

It wasn't that he didn't like the girl, it was the fact that the assistant liked him a little _too_ much. The twenty-five year old was quite persistent.

"Mr. Parker! Nice to see you!" she gushed and quickly stood from the table, knocking several folders of paper onto the ground. A few of the board members chuckled.

Peter reluctantly shook it. "Nice to see you too, Ms. Barton."

"You can just call me Lila, you know." She batted her eyelashes. Peter nodded at the brunette and took his spot at the end of the table. The other board members began to sat down due to his arrival as well.

David Taylor began speaking right away. He was one of the only people at this place that Peter actually enjoyed talking to. The man was in his mid-thirties and had been working for Oscorp for the last seven years.

"As you can see Mr. Parker, Jones and I have been working on the power grid project for the past seven years and we've already raised efficiency by slightly over fifteen percent. That's an average of two percent per year since we've started on this project, and we estimate that in another two years, we'll be working at maximum capacity." The words rolled off his tongue.

"That's great, Mr. Taylor." Peter grinned, encouraging him to continue.

"My partner Mr. Jones and I believe that, just for the next two years, we will need an extra amount of money to try to reach maximum efficiency at the quickest rate possible. I estimate that it would, in total, be an extra $29,470. But, within four years from completing the project, we will begin to make that money back at a substancial rate."

The board members all turned their heads towards Peter as David Taylor passed him the information packet. Peter took a couple minutes to read over it. He passed the papers over to Ms. Barton and she scanned it, nodding her head and chewing on her pen the whole time. Finally, she smiled and nodded towards Peter, passing the papers back to him.

"I think we can agree that this sounds reasonable." Peter said as he signed the papers for approval and passed them towards David.

"Thank you, Mr. Parker," he said as he took his approval form and sat down at the table. The second man got up from the table and took his place in the front of the room.

Peter didn't even have to listen to what the man was about to say. It seemed that the rest of the board members knew what this was going to be about as well.

"Mr. Parker, I would like your approval for testing with the Turritopsis Dohrnil Jellyfish." was all the man said as he passed the papers towards Peter.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Mulligan, I've already denied the request for this project several times now," he said as he slid the papers across the table.

"But- Mr. Parker- I must insist. This jellyfish is known for its' 'eternal' life, as some put it. It just keeps regenerating itself and it can potentially live forever. If I can just—"

"No. No animal testing," Peter said with finality. The oily haired man took his papers off the table and left the room without another word. Nobody else got up from the table.

"Does anybody else have any questions?" Peter asked as he looked around. Nobody seemed to have anything else to say. "Okay, that concludes our meeting for the day. You're all dismissed."

The board members left quickly as Peter gathered up his things. As he was about to leave the room, he noticed Ms. Barton was still there.

"Sorry, Mr. Parker, I just had a quick question," she said as the last member left the room, letting the door shut behind him.

Peter groaned. He knew what was about to come. "Yes, Ms. Barton?"

"I was just curious what you were doing for your birthday. It's in two days, right?"

That caught him off guard. She practically asked him out on a date at every board meeting. Instead of altering his story, he told her the truth.

"I- I'm not really sure yet. I was thinking about taking my kids to the zoo during the day. Not really sure what I'm doing later though." he shrugged, and then regretted saying that.

"Oh, great!" she beamed. "Would you want to go out to dinner or something fun that night for your birthday?"

"Ms. Barton," he said gently, "I already told you, it wouldn't be right for me to go on a date with my assistant."

"It doesn't have to be a date." She shook her head quickly. "I just want to do something nice for you. We can just hang out or whatever. You're always so stressed out," she said timidly.

Peter was about to tell her no, but he paused. It couldn't hurt to just hang out and have fun for a night, especially on his birthday.

"What did you have in mind?" he asked.

"Oh! Um, wow I didn't think you'd say yes," she admitted, biting her bottom lip.

He shifted uncomfortably. "As long as it's not a date."

"No, of course not. Here..." She took out her phone and went to her contacts. "Put your phone number in here, and I'll text you when I have an idea."

"Sounds good. You only have two days, though," he teased as he took the phone. He inwardly sighed as he saw she had put a little :) after his first name in the contacts. He quickly entered in his number and handed her back the phone.

"No worries, I'll think of something," she said as she grabbed her purse and headed out the door. He watched her go and was oblivious to the small smile that appeared on his face.

Peter left Oscorp quickly and went back home. He wanted to take a short nap before heading to The Bugle, and then after that he wanted to patrol the city for a few hours before checking on his children's summer reading projects.

"Hey, Dad! Come check this out!" Violet called from the living room. She was curled up on the couch in pajamas, her auburn hair in a messy ponytail.

"What's up?" he asked as he made his way into the room. He noticed that the news was on. "Really, Vi? You know it's not normal for ten year olds to watch the news."

"I'm not a normal ten year old," she retorted. "Anyways, listen!"

"— _the third attack in a short period of time. The red and black super humans have now been spotted in Los Angeles, California. There have been thirteen injuries and two deaths just today—"_

Peter watched the footage being shown on the television. Someone had been videotaping the two and the person who was taping it got pretty close. The video taper got close to the black suit and the camera picked up an eerie laugh. Peter shuddered and quickly shut off the TV.

"Hey! Why'd you do that?" she complained.

"There's nothing I can do right now. They're across the country. You know if they come anywhere near here, I'll stop them," he promised.

Violet jumped up off the couch. "There's something you're not telling me." She walked up to him. "Your face is bright red and you're sweating."

Peter brought his hand up to his face and wiped away the perspiration.

"I just got- it was weird like... Deja Vu." he said finally. "That laugh... it seemed so familiar to me and I just... couldn't listen to it."

"I'm sorry..?" she responded, unsure of what to say.

"No, it's okay. I just haven't been feeling too well lately. Something happened at the last bank robbery I was at and since then, I've just been getting a weird feeling."

"What happened?" she asked.

Peter opened his mouth, but decided against it, and shook his head. "I really don't want to talk about it right now, Vi. Anyways... what do you have planned for today?" he asked, changing the subject.

She seemed a little hesitant to let the previous subject go. "I was going to ask you if I could go over to Emma's house down the street. She asked me if I could go to the roller rink today, but if you want me to stay here I can."

"No, no. That's fine." he nodded. "Have any idea when you'll be home?"

"Well, it's starts at 4pm and ends around 8pm. I wanted to hang out with her before, though. Is that okay?"

"Of course. You want me to walk you there?"

Violet rolled her eyes at him. "Dad, it takes like three minutes to walk there. I'll be fine."

"I know you will. I just worry about you guys." He smiled at her.

"Well I'm going over there now then. Bye, Daddy!" She gave him a quick hug and ran out the front door just as Andrew came walking down the stairs.

Peter walked over to the couch and laid on his back.

"Hey buddy, how are you doing?" he said as Andrew started making a sandwich.

"I'm doing wonderful! I can't believe how lucky I am to be in my room inside this house _all day_ long! Summer couldn't get any better!"

Peter couldn't help but laugh, but it earned him a scoff from his son.

"Well, guess I'll head back to my room now. I miss it already."

"Andrew, hold on a second," Peter said, sitting up on the couch.

"Hm?" He paused at the bottom of the stairs. He was staring at his sandwich, not making eye contact with him.

"I was thinking... you've been pretty good this week and not getting into any trouble. Maybe I can let you off early for good behavior," he said with a hesitant smile.

"How early?" his son asked suspiciously, looking up at him.

"Well..." he began, "For my birthday, I wanted to take you and your sister to the zoo. So, after today, I'd say you can be ungrounded."

"Are you serious!?" he practically yelled.

He sniffed. "Yup. Just don't make me regret it."

"I won't." He smiled and rushed back up to his room, messy dark brown hair following him.

Peter sighed and then drifted off to sleep on the couch.

He was awoken by his cell phone going off. He woke up, slightly confused and then remembered where he was. Reaching towards the table, he grabbed his cell phone and checked who had messaged him.

 **"Hey, Mr. Parker! It's Lila Barton. Would you want to go ice skating on your birthday night?"**

Peter squinted at the text again, more confused than before. **"Ice skating? Isn't it Summer?"** he texted back. She responded almost instantly.

 **"LOL. They have indoor rinks. But if you think it's a dumb idea we can do something else!"**

Oh yeah, duh, he thought to himself. **"No, that sounds fine. Sorry, I just woke up from a nap I'm still a bit out of it."**

 **"Oh, gotcha! I'll let you go then, I'll text you with more information about it later. Bye Mr. Parker!"**

Peter sighed, hoping she wouldn't get the wrong idea. **"It's fine to just call me Peter, you know. If we're going to be hanging out on my birthday that might seem weird you calling me that."**

It took a few minutes for her to respond. **"Bye, Peter :)"**

He groaned and set his phone down.

Feeling energized from his nap, he suited up and spent a couple hours in the city, patrolling as Spider-Man. Afterwards he stopped by The Bugle and sold a few copies of, well, himself.

By the time he came home, Violet had just returned from the roller rink. She seemed ecstatic, and Peter realized that Andrew must have told her about how he was going to be ungrounded tomorrow.

"Dad!" she shouted and ran up to hug him. "Thank you SO much!"

"For what?" he asked innocently.

"For ungrounding Andrew early. I've been so bored this week. At least I had fun today." She smiled and then the smile disappeared almost immediately. "Dad! Those two crazy 'super human' people were spotted in Rochester, tonight! That's like five hours from here. What if they come here?"

"Then I'll stop them," he said simply.

He felt a lump in his throat. The text he had gotten earlier had said, "They're coming for you." What if they had meant these two people?

Violet gave a skeptical smile and ran back towards the living room.

He took his cell phone out of his pocket and tried to call the number again, but it was still a busy signal. Annoyed, he stuffed the phone back into his pocket.

He wasn't going to let this text get to him. If these people came to his city, he would be ready for them.


	5. Chapter 5

_Do-Do-Dooo Do-Do-Dooo Do-Do-Do-Do Do-Do-Do-Do_

"Wake up, Dad!" Violet yelled into his face. Peter shot up.

She had been downstairs when she heard the pager going off, but her father had still been out cold.

Violet clicked the respond button for him when he jumped out of the bed.

"Spider-Man! Finally!" boomed Captain Winchester from the pager. "Those two freaks that have been terrorizing several cities have been spotted here! Last we saw them, they were near the Empire State Building. They haven't done any damage here yet, but you need to stop them before they do!"

Peter thanked Violet for waking him and pushed her out of his room so he could get dressed. She waited for him in the hallway just outside their bedrooms.

"Violet, Andrew, stay in the house!" Peter yelled as he headed towards the door.

"But Dad, you said I was ungrounded!" Andrew argued, following him down the stairs. Violet skipped after him.

"I don't have time for this. You _are_ ungrounded but stay here until these two are dealt with," he said, shutting the front door.

Andrew huffed and plopped down on the couch.

"Great. The first day I'm ungrounded and I _still_ can't leave the house."

Violet sat next to him on the couch. "Don't worry about it. You're ungrounded and that's what matters. We'll be able to leave the house together tomorrow for Dad's birthday, and you won't be stuck inside your room for the next two weeks!" she beamed.

"I guess you're right," he sighed.

"Do you think he'll be all right? Those two looked serious."

She got up from the couch and peered out the window. The reporter on the TV had said one of them could fly and one of them used acid as a weapon.

"Of course he will. He's Dad," he said simply. "So what do you want to do to pass the time? And _please_ don't say read. That's basically all I've done all week."

"Up for a game of chess?" She grinned, stepping away from the window. He answered her by webbing the closet door open with one hand and then grabbed the chess game box with the other. He never passed up an opportunity to play.

The next hour passed by pretty slowly. Violet was anxious to see if her father was okay. He hadn't called or anything. Andrew just shrugged it off, trying to play it cool, but she knew that deep down he was nervous too.

Something buzzed upstairs and she jumped.

"Is that…" she began to say but Andrew interrupted her.

"Dad's spidey-pager!" he yelled, running up the stairs and knocking over their chess game in the process.

"Andrew, wait!" she called after him, chasing him up the stairs. She was normally faster than him, but with his head start, he beat her to it.

She folded her arms when she saw the spidey-pager was in his hand.

"Don't press the respond button."

"Shouldn't we at least see what they have to say? What if it's about Dad? What if someone needs help?"

She looked skeptically at him. "Dad said..."

"He's not here right now." he challenged.

"Andrew..."

"I'm gonna press it." he held his finger up to the button.

"Andrew Harrison!" she yelled.

"Hey! Only Dad gets to call me that."

"And Aunt May." she pointed out with a smile.

He paused. "Fine, anybody except you." he stuck his tongue out at her and then pressed the button.

"Hey!" she leapt forward but it was too late, the police station got the signal.

"Spider-Man!" the voice from the pager began. "We're not sure if you're back from dealing with those two yet, but we haven't had visual on you three in nearly twenty minutes. My whole fire fighting team is dealing with the fires near the Empire State Building at this moment, we need you to help deal with an apartment caught on fire at 36th Concord Ave." and just like that the voice ended.

"A fire! We can easily deal with that!" Andrew said as he ran towards his closet. "Wait here a moment let me get dressed."

"Are you serious!?" she yelled. "You just got ungrounded. Dad said to stay here... those, those super humans are out there right now!"

"You're just scared. You can stay here if you want. I'm going." he shut his closet door to get dressed quickly.

She waited patiently for him to come out.

"What if one of us gets hurt? Dad won't know where we are..." she attempted, knowing it wasn't going to do any good.

"Come on, Vi! Live a little." He tossed her her suit and walked out of his room. She sighed and began changing. There was no changing her brother's mind so she might as well tag along and make sure he'd be okay.

She got her suit on quickly and tied her hair into a ponytail. She didn't have a full mask like her father and brother; she just had a front mask to cover her face. Inhaling a large gulp of air, she called her brother back in. This was her first time leaving the house in her suit, and she was pretty nervous.

"Let's go! Follow me!" he yelled and they jumped out his bedroom window and took off towards the city.

She had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. They were breaking so many rules right now. Plus,those two people were on the loose.

"Spider-Man!" "There are two of them!" "Yay!" "Hey, who are you guys!?" "Go Spidey, Go!"

The shouts of the crowd made her feel a little better as they raced towards the burning building.

"See, Vi! They love us!" Andrew shouted to her as he waved towards the crowd.

She let out a giggle and began waving too, even doing a few flips in the air as the crowd cheered her on.

The building came into view quickly and she noticed that Andrew had slowed down in front of her.

"What's up?" she called to him.

There was a single police officer keeping the crowd away from the building. The fires off in the distance looked pretty drastic and she assumed that most of the officers were over there.

"Let me do the talking," was all he said as he dropped down to street level. She did the same, staying behind him as he approached a police officer.

"Any more people in there?" Andrew said in a gruff voice, trying to sound much older than he was. She contained a giggle as the police officer stared at them for a moment, mouth wide open, before he replied.

"We think four... top floor... wait how old are you two? Where's Spider-Man?" the officer questioned in a daze.

Andrew didn't reply and gestured for Violet to follow. He crawled up the side of the building, avoiding the burning areas. It seemed that the bottom two floors were on fire, while the top six floors were not.

They made it to the top of the building and he smashed in a window.

"You just broke someone's window!"

He looked over to her and he could tell her rolled his eyes under his mask. "Really, Vi? This building is on fire and you're yelling at me about a freaking window?"

He paused when they heard a yell.

"Come on, let's go!" He became serious again and ran towards the sound. Violet followed.

He pulled open a closet door and two boys, slightly younger than them, were huddled inside.

"We're here to help you," Andrew told them. They were crying but the older one nodded. "Grab him and follow me," he said as he picked up the older boy and put him on his back. He had such determination on his face, she couldn't help but feel pride in her brother; he was a natural.

Picking up the boy was simple. With her strength it was basically like putting on a backpack. She followed Andrew out of the building with ease.

They set the crying children on the ground and raced back up the building. They had two more people to find. The police officer took the two children to safety.

"That was easy!" she said as they entered the building again. "I feel good... like really good. We just helped those two."

"We're not clear yet, Vi," he said to her, quickly running through the rooms.

She nodded to him and began checking out different rooms herself. Out of nowhere, a blonde teenager emerged from a hallway.

"Hey! Are you hurt?" she called out to her, trying to imitate her brother and sound older than she was.

The girl put her hand up to her mouth and looked at Violet in wonder. Andrew came running around the corner, hearing Violet yell to the girl.

"Are you hurt?" he repeated. "Who else is with you, where are they?"

"Beats me." the blonde shrugged.

Andrew and Violet looked at each other quickly.

"Well, let's go, I'll help you out." he said walking towards her.

"Where's Spider-Man?" she questioned, annoyance evident in her voice.

"Not here," Andrew stated. "Do you want our help or not?"

She let out a smug laugh. "Are you guys the B Team or something? Is he that desperate for help that he enlists children?"

"He didn't enlist us, we're—" Violet began but Andrew covered her mouth.

"We're super heroes, just like him," he finished for her. "We were told there were two more people in the building, do you want our help or not?" he asked, standing up straighter.

"Seeing as I'm the one who set the fire, I don't think I'll be needing your help," she said with a deadly smile.

"You- you set the fire!?" Andrew yelled. "What's wrong with you!?"

"I needed to see Spider-Man again. My name is Gwen. I'm an old friend of his."

The building creaked as the flames engulfed more of the building. The smoke wasn't to their level yet, but they needed to find the other two people before it was too late.

"You couldn't have just dropped by and said a simple hi to him?" he asked her.

"Not my style," the blonde answered.

"Go find the other two," he whispered to Violet.

She turned and was about to run after them when she ducked and a knife went flying inches past her head.

"What the heck!" She spun around to face Gwen.

She was about to leap at the blonde, but her brother beat her to it. He crashed into her and they went flying through the wall.

"You're strong for a little pip-squeak," she laughed.

"I'm not going to hit a girl... but if you call me that again..." he snarled.

Suddenly, an ear-splitting laugh rumbled through the building. It was like no sound that they had ever heard. The deranged noise bounced around through the rooms. Andrew recovered quickly and shot webbing at the girl who was momentarily distracted by the noise.

"What the-!" the blonde growled.

Violet caught on quickly and with the both of them, it was actually quite easy to web the girl up to the wall.

"We're going to leave you here while we go find the other two people. Then maybe... _maybe_ we'll come back for you," he said to her, still unable to forgive her for throwing a knife at his sister.

Another laugh echoed through the apartment building. Andrew could see the fear in his sister's eyes through her mask.

"What is that?" she hissed at him.

"Nothing we can't handle," he assured her. The girl calling herself Gwen looked at them with a nasty smile.

"You two really aren't going to leave me here tied up in a burning building." She raised an eyebrow at them. "Super heroes wouldn't do that."

Violet looked towards Andrew and back at Gwen again.

"We can't leave her here," she whispered to him.

"Did you see the other people?" he asked in a strong voice.

 _"The itsy bitsy spiders..."_ Everyone in the room seemed to pause as an insidious voice began to sing from somewhere in the building. " _...crawled into momma's bed."_

"Seriously Andrew, what was that?" she almost shouted.

He shook his head fiercely at her. "No names!" he growled. "And I have no idea, but I'd rather not find out..."

The smoke began to creep into the room they were in.

"We need to find them now. Stay with her, watch her, I'm going to find the other two people. They should be somewhere on this level."

Violet nodded and crossed her arms as he left the room.

"Come on, little girl, let me go. We're both going to burn up here," Gwen told her frantically. She was struggling against the webbing, but it was doing her no good. "What do you guys do differently... this webbing seems much stronger than..."

 _"They crawled up to their momma and bit her on the head..."_

"Andrew hurry up!" she called. The voice seemed to be getting closer and it was making her hair stand on end.

There was sound like glass shattering and she ran to the window and sighed in relief. He must have found the other two people because he was lowering them to the ground as they spoke. She backed away from the window as he sprung up towards it and crawled through.

 _"Daddy didn't know... but momma 'oh she bled..."_

"Good job," she congratulated him. "Now what do we do with her? How do we know she won't turn on us when we cut her free?"

 _"The spiders lay there sleeping while momma lay there dead..."_

Andrew peered at Gwen who seemed to be just as freaked out at them.

"Listen, if I cut you free, you need to get out of here, no messing around. Spider-Man isn't here right now, and we aren't him. So no tricks, got it?" he said as he picked up a piece of glass to cut the webbing free.

 _"In came daddy and all he saw was red..."_

"No tricks, promise." she winked at them.

"Andrew, hurry just cut her free and let's get out of here." Violet clung to his arm. The singing was ringing through her ears and getting closer every verse. He seemed to just be outside the door...

 _"Next came the goblin to fill them all with lead."_

They all held their breath as the person revealed themselves.

He was wearing an all black suit, the breastplate looked to be made from various layers of pointed metal sheets. It covered everything from the neck down and ended at the groin, but the shoulder looked fairly exposed to allow for movement.

Brown shaggy hair slightly revealed his intense glare. Violet focused on his eyes... his eyes were filled with such anger, hate, and insanity. They flickered back and forth, taking in the scene in front of him. When the black suited man made eye contact he smiled at her, revealing his teeth, all filed to a point.

"Heh, well, maybe not lead. But, it was the only rhyme I could come up with." The man had a gruff, mocking voice.

A fairly large, slim, barbed blade made of obsidian was held by a grip wrapped in gilded, forest green smooth leather. The blade itself was engraved. He had artistically etched into the blade, "Peter Parker." Violet gasped at seeing this. The man followed her gaze and laughed again, much quieter this time.

"Hello, little spiders." He took several steps towards them and Andrew walked in front of his sister. "Or should I say, Andrew and Violet."

Violet gripped the back of her brother's suit.

The man looked around the room and his eyes rested on the blonde girl they had webbed to the wall. He seemed to jump back a foot.

"You...!" he growled out, reaching for his knife and then pausing.

"Me? Who the hell are you supposed to be?" she asked, still struggling against the webbing. Violet took Andrew's hand and took a few steps towards the window.

"You can't be alive. You're dead," he snarled. He looked towards the kids and then back at the girl. The confusion and anger on his face quickly evaporated. Violet looked over at the girl again and froze.

The girl was still blonde, but all of her features were different. It was definitely not the girl they had just spoken with and webbed up. The clothes were quite similar, if you had glanced away for a moment you wouldn't have noticed, but with her keen senses she could see the subtle difference.

"What are you talking about!?" the girl said to him in a frightened voice. Even her voice wasn't the same. Andrew passed Violet the glass shard and she quickly put it into the blonde girl's hand.

The girl had set the fire, but everyone was safe. She hadn't killed anyone. It wasn't up to them to decide who lived and who died, and with this newcomer, Violet wasn't sure if they'd be able to rescue her in time. This way at least the girl could cut the webbing off of herself.

"I- I- thought, the man began but shook his head, focusing on Andrew and Violet again. "Never mind. It doesn't matter anyway."

"Okay... well... we're done here," Violet tried to say, but it came out in a whisper.

"Do I scare you, little girl?" the man laughed and peered down at their retreating feet. Violet glanced and saw the blonde girl was almost done cutting through the webbing. As he walked forward he placed one of his hands on the wall, scraping his finger nails across as he went.

Violet gasped as the wall fixture suddenly toppled over, making a sizzling sound. The man brought his hand up to his face and mock blew on his finger tips. So the news had gotten it right: the man was able to produce an acid-like substance from his fingertips.

Andrew stopped. "No, you don't scare us. What do you want with us... who are you?"

"I'm the goblin," he stated. "And you two are the spawns on Spider-Man: Violet and Andrew. Born to follow in his steps, I'm sure." He smiled wickedly.

"We make out own path," Andrew growled as he continued to advance on them. The goblin paused and studied them for a moment. He peered around the boy for a moment to get the girl's attention.

"Violet... _you_ want to follow in his footsteps. You want to help people, to save people and make the world a better place," he spit venomously. "I can tell these things, you know." He tapped the side of his head. "Built-in intuition."

She didn't say anything but continued to cling onto her brother's shirt.

"And you, Andrew..." he laughed. "You're a much more complicated piece of work. It's not so much you want to follow in your father's footsteps. You want to be free, to be seen. To be your own person."

Once again neither of them replied.

"But I also see something much more in you." He narrowed his eyes as he studied the boy. "Yes... there is something dark inside of you. Maybe I don't have to—"

"How about you just shut up and tell us what you want?"

"Well, to put it simply, I want to kill the both of you. I want to paint the walls red with your blood. And when I'm finished I will hang up your dead bodies in your own webs for your father to see." He laughed between words.

"Andrew..." Violet whispered, squeezing his hand.

"So you know our father?" he asked, slowly pushing Violet towards the window.

"Of course I know your father!" he growled, his eyes showing nothing but insanity. "He's the one who left me for dead! Now I will get my revenge and make sure _everyone_ he loves dies!"

The next moment happened so quickly, Violet didn't even know exactly what had happened. The blonde cut the last strand of the webbing and threw the glass at the man in the black suit. Andrew then shoved Violet out the window, but she quickly recovered and clung to the outside wall.

The both of them dropped to ground level.

"That sure was close," he laughed.

Neither of the people in the building were pursuing them.

"Ahem." A voice behind them. They froze.

Violet squeezed her eyes shut, fearing the worst. Andrew was the first to turn around. She sighed and turned around as well, unable to avoid what was to happen.

Their father was standing right next to them.


	6. Chapter 6

"Dad... I..." Andrew began in a small voice.

The cheers from the surrounding crowd and the arriving fire trucks made it impossible for anyone to hear their conversation, but Peter made sure to choose his words carefully anyway.

"Are there any other people in there?" he asked through his teeth, not taking his eyes off his son.

How could they be so careless? Not only did he not want them to go off fighting crime and pretending to be super heroes... but they knew that there were especially dangerous people in the city at this time.

"Two people, one of them was the black suit guy from the TV who called himself 'Goblin,' the other was some blonde girl named Gwen..." Violet answered for him.

Peter's head turned towards her for a fraction as he heard the name.

"Don't move," he practically growled out at them before jumping up into the building.

The flames were pretty high now. The building was going to go down at any minute. He quickly checked the top floor of the house, but there was definitely nobody up there anymore. The building gave another groan as a floor started to cave in. Without anyone else in harm's way, he leapt out the window and back onto the street below. He didn't have time to find out where the other two went to right now.

"Home. Now," he whispered furiously to them. "I'll be behind you shortly."

Violet was the first to leave. Andrew looked as if he was going to argue, but decided not to and swung after his sister.

"Spider-Man! Spider-Man!" Captain Winchester came running up to him. He seemed out of breathe. Peter groaned and held his face in his hand for a moment as the man caught up to him. "Who were those two with you? Their suits were pretty similar to yours, but they looked so small. Do you think they were children?" The captain spit out question after question.

"Not sure, Captain. All I know is that everyone got out safe. Our job here is done," he said in a false cheery tone as he too swung off towards his home. He made sure his children were in his sight, that way if they decided to go off course he would be able to follow them. It seemed they made the right decision and went straight home.

He stopped right outside a small alleyway near his house, where he kept a stash bag for his clothes. There were no windows that looked down into the alley, so it was impossible for neighbors to see. He whipped his mask off and stuffed it into his hoodie pocket and pulled up his hood.

Did they even realize what kind of danger they were in?! If they were with the black suit guy then... things could have ended a whole lot differently. He quickly rehashed what had gone down at the Empire State Building.

* * *

Peter landed near the foot of the famous landmark. Looking up at it in awe, he saw the message that was surely for him. Someone, obviously one of the black or red suits from the TV, had spray painted a flammable giant black spider on the front of the landmark, and lit fire to it. Firefighters were everywhere, trying to put out all the small fires in the vicinity.

There was a large crowd block, which gave him room to find the culprits without worrying about people getting hurt.

His spider-sense went off and he ducked just as a flash of red flew past him.

"Spider-Man," the person in the red suit said to him. It was a girl's voice, but it sounded like she was using a voice modulator of some kind. Her voice was completely void of emotion.

Peter quickly looked over her suit, there didn't seem to be any kinds of guns on her. He did get a glimpse of what looked like ninja stars strapped to her leg. The suit looked like it was made of a latex material, and was a very shiny red. Her shoulders were fairly rounded, narrow and smaller in size. The suit was complete with a helmet/mask that covered her face with a black stripe across the eyes where Peter assumed they could see from, but nobody else could see in.

"Am I to assume this was your handiwork?" he asked, gesturing towards the landmark.

"Yes," she said simply.

"So where's your friend, this 'black suit' guy? And who are you supposed to be?" he questioned as the girl in the red suit lowered herself to the ground. There was about thirty feet of space between them, but they could hear each other perfectly.

The girl began to circle him. "You people get it wrong. It's not just 'a black suit'. It is vantablack. The blackest known substance to this day. It was made to reflect his soul, and that of which you people made him. Our creators attempted to rename him, but he goes by the name of the goblin."

Upon hearing that name, Peter's heart seemed to pause momentarily. It was an obvious reminder of his old best friend, his best friend that had died ten years previously. Of course someone would take on that name, probably just to further mess with him.

"Sounds like a great guy," he snorted. "And what is your red suit supposed to reflect?"

"Nothing, I just look great in red," she shrugged. "And they call me the Scarlet Soldier, Scarlet for short."

"Who exactly are 'they'?"

"'They' are our creators in a way. They made us this way. We were sent here to take back one of our own. She escaped you see. In fact, I was sent here to talk to you about it."

Peter was greatly surprised by this. He had thought she was here in fact to presumably kill him. Then he thought back to the 'Gwen' he had seen at the bank, and thought she might have something to do with it.

"She wouldn't happen to be a nineteen year old blonde teenager, would she?"

"No. Black hair. Green Eyes. 5'3''. 120 lbs."

He skimmed his mind, only coming to one person he knew that fit that description. "No, it can't be..." he whispered.

"Your heart is starting to race. You do know who she is, don't you?" Scarlet walked towards him a few steps.

"Felicia? Felicia Hardy?" he wanted to make sure.

"Yes. Where is she?" her voice hardened.

He had no idea. He hadn't actually seen her in the last couple of years. They weren't exactly what you would call friends but, even if he did know he wouldn't give her away like that.

"I have no idea where she is." He shrugged. "Even if I did, I wouldn't tell you."

She watched him for a moment. "You're telling the truth. I can... tell these things." She continued to watch him in an uncomfortable silence.

"Okay so yeah, great talk," Peter started, "but can you guys just pack up and head out then? She's not here," he stated more firmly.

Scarlet glanced around. Police officers were everywhere. "I'll be in touch," she said before flying straight up into the air and out of sight.

That was weird, he thought to himself. Captain Winchester bolted up to him along with three other officers.

"Spider-Man! Why didn't you capture her?" he nearly shouted as he got near.

"She kind of flew away. And if you didn't notice before... I can't fly." He was about to swing away from the scene when one of the officers cut him off.

"So if Spider-Man is here, who responded to the call at headquarters? They just informed me that Spider-Man is on his way to the apartment fire."

Peter froze. Maybe it was just a fluke on the spider pager. "Where's the fire? Which building?" He frantically looked all around and then spotted a blackening cloud of smoke in the distance. "Never mind." He jumped away from them and swung away towards the flames.

* * *

He took a big breathe of fresh air. His hands were shaking. He put his hand on the doorknob and opened the door. Neither of the kids were downstairs, so he went up the stairs, straight to Andrew's room.

As soon as he opened the door, both of them started yelling at him.

"Dad, it was my fault-"

"-if I would have just-"

"-shouldn't get in trouble!"

"-can't I be a super hero too!?"

"Will you both just be quiet?" Peter shouted, silencing them. "I don't think you realize how incredibly upset I am with the both of you."

Violet was standing in the middle of the room, holding her arm in one hand. It was a nervous habit she had picked up. Andrew was sitting cross legged on his bed, a grimace on his face.

"You two could have been hurt today. You said you met the person in the black suit? Have you heard what he can do? You're lucky I got there when I did."

"You didn't _do_ anything. I knocked Violet and myself out the window and that's where you came in!" Andrew shouted. "We saved four people and got out unharmed! Maybe if you would have gotten there before us, we wouldn't have had to help."

Peter narrowed his eyes at him. "What, do you expect me to be everywhere at once?"

"Gwen threw a knife at him and, in a way, saved us. She also said she was looking for you, that you two were old friends." Andrew smirked. "I thought you lost all of those."

"Andrew—" she whispered to him.

Peter stared at his son, truly struck by his words.

"Daddy, I'm sorry—" Violet began.

"No. No explanations. No excuses. That's it." Peter went to the closet and began rummaging around. Violet shot Andrew a look.

"What is it? What are you looking for?" Andrew jumped off the bed and ran to the closet, attempting to see around Peter. "What are you doing?"

"You two, _especially_ you, Andrew, seem to think it's okay not to listen to me. I don't just make rules around here to be a jerk, I do it for your safety, for this family's safety. All you care about is trying to look 'cool,' trying to impress people. Well guess what? It's done. You're done." He pulled out a familiar brown box.

Andrew grabbed the box and attempted to pull it from his grasp. "Dad, you can't take our suits, you can't!"

"I can, and I will," he said as he held the box against himself and began to walk out of the room.

"Violet, tell him he can't! You made them!" he heard his son yell as he began walking down the stairs. She knew how much trouble they were in and didn't say anything.

Peter walked to the garage and turned on the light. He set the box on top of the tool bench and roughly opened up the drawers underneath, pulling out a bottle of charcoal lighter fluid. He began dousing the suits in it when Andrew stormed into the garage after him.

"What the hell, Dad!?" Andrew walked towards him.

"Language," was all he said. Peter took out the grill lighter. "I'm sorry, but if this stops you from putting you and your sister in danger, then that's what going to happen."

Andrew watched as his father put the lighter up to their suits which burst into flames immediately. Violet had come down the stairs as well and stood in the garage doorway watching the scene in front of her.

He instantly felt guilty as he watched their suits burn. It was justifiable to him though. He had told Andrew multiple times what was going to happen. They had broken the rules and put themselves in danger tonight.

"I hate you," Andrew whispered from behind him.

He rolled his eyes and looked at his son. "You don't hate me. You're angry because you got caught."

He sniffed. "No, I do. I wish Mom were here instead."

"You've never even met your mother—"

"Exactly! Because of you!" Andrew yelled at him, seething in anger. "I try so hard to impress you and you shoot me down every single time, Dad. I'm not doing this to impress other people, it's for you! But I'm never good enough. It's always Violet."

"That's not true—"

"It is! It is true!" His son had tears in his eyes now. "I've always wanted to be like you. You just took that away from me too. Well, I think now I've realized I don't want to be like you anymore. You're pathetic, paranoid about nothing all the time, having Aunt May watch us as if we were children..."

"Because you are! You are children, you're only ten years old for Christ's sake, Andrew! Don't you get it!?" Peter yelled. Where was all of this coming from?

"Oh, I get it all right." He started backing away to the garage door and Violet backed up a few steps. "I wish Mom was here instead of you."

"I could say the same about you." He narrowed his eyes at his son, but once again instantly regretted his words.

Andrew turned around without another word and ran up to his room. Peter sighed and turned around, putting out the flames on the suits. They were ruined, there was no saving them.

"Daddy?"

He turned to the voice of his daughter, who had tears in her eyes. He mentally kicked himself, of course she would have been listening. He hoped she hadn't heard everything they had said.

"Hey, Vi," he said quietly.

"You didn't mean that, right?"

He sighed. She did hear. "No, I didn't. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. You know how your brother is." He shook his head and walked over to her, engulfing her in a hug.

She nodded and stared at the burnt box on top of the tool bench. Peter let go of her and then walked back over to the tool bench, grabbing the box and tossing it out in the garbage.

"You're grounded too, Vi, so go up to your bedroom. _Yours_ , not Andrew's," he clarified.

Violet's footsteps carried upstairs and he heard her bedroom door close. She was crying and he felt horrible. She had worked so hard on both of their suits.

The doorbell rang and he hesitated before leaving the garage. How could he have said that to his son? Andrew would never forgive him.

It was pouring outside. He walked to the door as it rang again.

"I'm coming, hold on," he grumbled to himself.

"Parker, open up!" a female voice called.

He froze at the sound of that voice. It couldn't be.

Opening up the door slowly, the black haired woman pushed him out of the way, made her way inside and then slammed the door behind herself.

"Took you long enough to open it!" she said in a mocking tone.

"Felicia. Good to see you too," he replied, rubbing his arm where he had been pushed into the wall.


	7. Chapter 7

"So, Felicia, it's been a few years. Not that I'm not happy to see you, well wait, no I'm not happy to see you that much..."

Felicia all but collapsed onto his living room couch.

"Whoa, you okay?" he asked. She buried her head in her hands.

"Shut up, web-head. Go get me a mirror, needle, thread, rubbing alcohol, and some gauze," she said weakly before slumping over onto her side on the couch.

That's when Peter saw the huge gash on the side on her head. It started behind her right ear and went all the way to her temple. It didn't look like a fresh wound, it just looked like it had been reopened recently.

"Felicia, I need to take you to a hospital," he said, pulling on his shoes.

She tried to sit up but instantly plopped back onto the couch. "No... no hospitals. Do it yourself," she said before falling backwards onto the couch, passing out.

Peter went into full doctor-mode. He grabbed all the necessary materials and set them on the living room table. He ran to his kitchen and sterilized the utensils with the stove burner. The wound was bleeding slowly, so he cleaned as much of it off her as possible and then he sterilized the area with the rubbing alcohol and a new piece of gauze.

It seemed to make her stir in her sleep so he tried to get past that part quickly.

"Dad? What's going on?" he heard his daughter yell from upstairs.

Damn, he thought. "Nothing, Vi. Just stay up there for now, I'll come talk to you afterwards." He heard her door close and that was the end of that.

Next, he quickly stitched up the area to the best of his ability. He was never much for stitching people up, in fact, he was the one that people usually had to help heal up.

He used some medical tape and covered the wound with gauze. She was still passed out at this point, but was breathing steadily. He shook her shoulder and gently calling her name. His spider sense went off and he quickly jumped back just in time for her to leap towards him, brandishing what looked like cat claws in the gloves she was wearing.

"Easy, easy. Calm down, it's just me," he said soothingly, holding his arms out, showing he meant no harm as he jumped down from the arm chair he had leapt onto. She seemed to realize where she was and sat back onto the couch, the cat claws retracted back into her gloves.

"Did the Scarlet Soldier do that to you?" he asked, pointing to the gash he had just fixed for her.

"What do you know about her?" She raised an eyebrow and started to poke at the gauze on the side of her head. "Nice job, Parker." she said in a surprised voice.

"I actually met her earlier today. She told me she was looking for you, but I told her I had no idea where you were." he shrugged. "Apparently they're looking for you and not for me. A nice change for once," he joked, trying to ease the tension.

She looked at him with speculation. "Did she tell you her name? Anything else?"

He shook his head. "No, not anything much other than 'Scarlet Soldier' and that she and her partner were here to find you."

"So you haven't actually seen either of their faces then?" she continued.

"No, I haven't."

"Who are you?"

They both whipped their heads around to see Violet staring at Felicia. Her eyes were still a little puffy from crying earlier.

Peter looked back and forth between them before walking over to his daughter.

"I thought I asked you to stay in your room," he whispered to her. He didn't really know how to explain why Felicia was in their house.

Violet narrowed her eyes at the woman on the couch. "You look very familiar," she said to her. "I'll be right back." she yelled as she bolted up the stairs. Felicia looked curiously at Peter but he just shrugged.

"Are you in my room?" He called to her as he heard a door open that was too soon to be her bedroom. "Just- just stay up there."

"What's wrong Parker? You don't want them to talk to a criminal?" she teased. "Do you think I'm going to corrupt them?"

"No, they're grounded," he stated flatly as Violet came running down the stairs with a large booklet in her arms.

"See! I told you she looked familiar," she said proudly as she set the booklet down on the living room table.

The booklet was an old Oscorp manual, the only edition printed from when Harry Osborn had been the sole owner of the company. The front cover had Harry, Felicia, and several random employees on the front cover.

"Ew, I had bangs." Felicia shuddered at the picture. Peter watched as she picked up the booklet and placed a finger on Harry's picture. He was wearing a black suit in the picture, with a mocking smug look on his face. There was a hurt look in her eyes and she wiped away a tear before anyone could see it.

"I miss him too," he whispered.

Felicia looked up at him for a moment and huffed before giving the booklet back to Violet. She took the booklet from her, still confused. She was staring at the front cover, a slight disbelieving look in her eyes.

"Wait a minute, this man, Mr. Osborn..." she said, pointing to the picture of Harry.

"Remember I told you about him? He and I used to be best friends but he... he passed away about ten years ago. Right about the time you two were born."

"He's not dead," Violet said to him.

Peter didn't really know what to say. He looked to Felicia who seemed to be avoiding his eyes at the moment. "What do you mean, Vi? Of course he is. I was there, I told you the story."

"No, he's not dead," she repeated. "He's the guy in the black suit, from the news. He's the one Andrew and I saw in the burning apartment building."

"He's dead, I saw—" he began.

"No, Dad! I'm telling you I know who it was. He looked a little different, a little older maybe, but it was him. He said he knew you. He knew us by our names. He knows your name and that you're Spider-Man."

Peter stared at her with his mouth slightly hanging open. What was happening? First Gwen, and then Harry? There had to be some kind of mistake though. He saw Harry die, just like Gwen. If Harry was alive for whatever reason, he was out there hurting people. Peter knew he had changed in the end, he wanted to be a better person, so why would he be robbing banks and murdering people? Why hasn't he told Peter that he was alive?

Felicia still seemed to be staring anywhere but at him.

"Vi, I need you to go back to your room for now. Felicia and I need to have a talk." he said as he pulled up a chair and sat down in front of her. He waited to hear his daughter's bedroom door close before he began.

"I know you know what's going on. Talk," he prompted.

Felicia rolled her eyes, but he could tell her heart wasn't really in it. Her hand subconsciously went up to her head and she felt the gauze on her wound.

"Do you want the short or the long story?" she asked, picking at the fabric on her head.

"I want to know everything," he said, staring straight into her eyes. He never noticed before, but she had green eyes. Not vibrant, like whenever the goblin took control of Harry, but a soft moss green with golden brown flecks.

She sighed dramatically. "Fine. I guess you deserve to know. It is one of the reasons I came here anyways." she positioned herself in a comfortable position on the couch and then began her story.

"So about three years ago, I was hearing whispers of this "goblin" person in South America—"

"Who'd you hear it from?" he interrupted.

She raised both of her eyebrows at him. "Don't interrupt. I _am_ technically a criminal, I still have a few connections. That's all you need to know." She shook her head. "Anyways... my connection told me about this island, Gorgona Island, off the coast of Columbia. Well, I sniffed around and I also got whispers of "Osborn," so me being me, I did more investigating and eventually ended up in Columbia. Apparently, they used to use this small island as a prison, but recently it became a National Park Reserve or whatever. Little does the public know, this man named Stryker is using it as a testing area to run tests on people. Make them stronger, give them abilities, brainwash them if he must, that kind of thing.

"With my... more cunning abilities, I was able to land a job there for some time. I needed to get in on the inside in order to find him if he was there. What I learned though..." she shook her head and looked a little lost, "I didn't like it. What he was doing there, it was awful. The people that he couldn't control, the ones who wanted to get out of there, they had these devices surgically implanted on the sides of their heads." She gestured to the side of her head.

"That's what happened to you!? What did you do?" he nearly shouted.

She nodded and continued her story. "Well, my contact was telling the truth. Harry was there. And it is Harry, our Harry. They had people watching us the whole time, when he was... left in that building... Stryker's people had gotten him out of there. They saved him, somehow. But they've turned him into a weapon. He's able to conjure up fire and acid. They've brainwashed him into thinking that you're the enemy, that you were the one who tried to murder him and then left him for dead. His partner, the "Scarlet Soldier," she's just as dangerous as him. She can fly... she can actually fucking fly. She is basically a human lie detector. The device they implanted in her suppresses her emotions, so she follows orders without question. They were experimenting and just trying to build a team based on what they could come up with. Well, eventually I was found out and I was put into a cell like these people.

"I've been on that island ever since. I had that device implanted into my head and I became a "good little soldier." You could see everything that was happening, hear everything, but there was nothing you could do about it. It confused you. It consumed you. Until..." she paused.

"Until what?" he asked after she was silent for a minute.

"Well, the sick bastards gave us 'holidays.' It was a kind of _treat_ we got. They turned off our head devices and we were able to just be ourselves. It confused us even more, but even after all those years, Harry held on. He knew who he really was. He was so angry with me for coming there and getting caught too." She sniffed. "They let us have free run of the island, but if any of us got too close to the edge, they promised to turn our devices on and we would miss the rest of the 'holiday.'"

"Did Ha- did Harry mention me at all?" Peter whispered.

Felicia rolled her eyes. "Of course he did. The idiot made me promise if I ever got out of there to tell you he was alive. To promise you wouldn't go there too, or else you'd get caught. He also made me promise that..." She paused, looking down.

"What? What did he make you promise?"

"That if you ever see him again, to kill him," she said quietly.

Wait, what? "Why would he say that?"

"Stryker knows all about you. He knows about your children. He was planning on using Harry to take one of you, your family, for testing purposes. Harry was promised he would be able to kill the rest of you, because he thinks that you tried to kill him. When the device was turned off, Harry knew about the whole plan. So he wanted me to warn you about his intentions before he was able to perform them. If I got out before him, that is," she stated when she saw the expression on Peter's face. "But, you're not going to do that, are you?"

"No, I'm not going to kill my best friend. I'll find a way to fix him."

She raised an eyebrow at that. "Good. Because I wouldn't allow that. I thought that with your family being in danger and all, you'd take drastic measures against him."

He shook his head. "He won't hurt them. Deep down, he still has to be Harry. My best friend. I'll fix him," he repeated. "What about you? Are you okay?"

She sniffed again. "Of course I am. I mean, I have extra strength now after what was done to me, nothing close to what you guys have," she pouted. "I also have these cool claws that come out of my knuckles, 'cat claws,'" she purred. "I can also jump pretty high. They gave me more cat-like abilities because of my whole 'Black Cat' persona. They teamed me up with Harry and the Scarlet Soldier. Harry and I had black suits, while she obviously had red. Our team was called 'Black Heart' because of the whole black/red theme. Stryker wanted more money to run his operations, so he planned to release us on the major banks in America."

"Since I was the most cunning, I would override the systems in the bank and try to shut down most of the security, Harry was to use his acid abilities to cut inside the vault, and Scarlet would take the money and use her flying ability to get in and out as quick as possible. One day on one of our holidays, Harry decided he had had enough. He attempted to escape the island, but got his device turned back on. I was so upset with him, because I only got once a month to be with him in our normal states. I didn't see him for several months after that, but he told me stories of what happened to him. I was tired of that place, the jungle, the testing, being controlled.

"One day, I just took my knife out without thinking. I stuck it inside the part of my head where the device was kept and I cut it out. I got out of there. I swam and swam and thought I was going to drown, but some guy on a boat rescued me. Long story short, I made it back to America and now they're out looking for me," she said simply.

"How long ago did you escape? Your head was still bleeding when I found you." Peter's eyes darted back up to the gash.

"About two weeks ago, I think. I know they went looking for me as soon as they found out I was gone. As for why my head was bleeding, well I needed some money to get by and I was almost caught. You don't need to know all the details, Parker," she scoffed at him.

This was a lot to take in for him. His best friend was alive but had been brainwashed into thinking that he had tried to murder him. These people were sent here to not only look for Felicia, but for possibly his children, too. Then there was—

"What about Gwen?" he asked suddenly.

She gave him a puzzled look. "Gwen? Gwen... your old girlfriend...?"

"Yeah. I saw her maybe a week ago. She was... robbing a bank with some guy named Mysterio," he finished lamely.

"She wasn't there with us. Gwen _really_ is dead, Parker. There is no possible way that she is alive. I'm sorry."

He shook his head slightly. He knew what he saw.

"I can't believe I've been stuck there for the past two years. I almost told them to stop turning my device off... I was going crazy. I can't believe those two even lasted the ten years there."

Peter paused for a moment. "Those two? So do you know who the Scarlet Soldier is then? Were she and Harry taken together?"

Felicia seemed at a lose for words for a moment. "No it's just I- I never really spoke with her. Harry just told me she was there for about the same time as he was, that's all." She seemed defensive.

Peter nodded and Felicia sighed.

"Well... I think I've told you just about all you need to know. Thanks for stitching me up and everything, I'll get out of your hair now," she said as she stood up, slightly swaying on her feet.

Peter chuckled and sat her back down. "I think it's safe to say that you can't really be out there right now. What with two super humans trying to capture you, and from the blood loss you probably have sustained and all..." He trailed off.

She looked around the room. "Ugh, you're not actually suggesting I stay here, are you? Do you even have a guest bedroom?"

"Oh uh- no. I don't." He grimaced. "You could stay in my bedroom, though," he suggested to her. It would be much safer for her to stay here.

She raised one of her eyebrows at him. "Ew."

"I'm not saying I'm staying in there with you too. I'll just sleep on the couch. No big deal." He shrugged. "If I let you leave now you'll probably get captured or something and I'd feel guilty about it."

She scrutinized him for a moment before getting back to her feet. "Thanks, Parker. I think I'll go take a cat nap now. Feeling a little under the weather and all." She walked towards the stairs.

"I know how you feel. Fighting crime all day really takes a toll on you," he said as he curled up on the couch and fell asleep.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD!" Peter jumped awake and nearly fell off the couch. Violet giggled at his expression.

"Hey, Vi," he said to her.

"Andrew and I made you breakfast." She handed him a plate. Peter looked at it in amazement; there were pancakes with butter and strawberry syrup, sausage links, scrambled eggs, a couple pieces of bacon, and a cup of coffee to top it off.

"Wow, this really looks amazing." He took the plate from her and sat down at the kitchen table next to his son. "You helped with this?" he asked him.

"Nope. I don't know why she said I did." He shrugged as he chewed on a piece of bacon, all without looking up at his father.

Violet kicked him as she walked passed him and sat at the table across from them. "It's Dad's birthday, aren't you going to wish him a happy birthday?"

"Nope," he said as he chugged back some orange juice. "I wish him the opposite."

Peter ignored his son and began eating the breakfast his daughter had made him. It was actually really delicious and put him in a good mood to start the day.

Just as he began to finish up, his phone rang. He set his dishes in the sink and answered it quickly.

"Hello?"

"Peter! It's David Taylor. Just calling to wish you a happy birthday."

David was one of the only people that Peter enjoyed talking to at work. They had gone out several times for a beer. At work David called him Mr. Parker, but he told him to just call him Peter outside of work.

"Thank you, David," he said sincerely. He didn't like much attention on him, so he avoided letting people know it was his birthday. Lila must have told him.

"Hey, Dad!" Andrew yelled loudly right next to him. "There's a strange lady in your bed and I have no idea who she is!"

Peter looked down at his son and shook his head.

"Are you kidding me?!" he mouthed as Andrew smirked and walked back towards the stairs and up to his room.

"Well, seems like you're pretty busy," David chuckled.

"Yeah- just uh- yeah that was my son. He's upset at me and he was just messing around and all." He laughed nervously. "Look David, I'll talk to you later. I'm stopping by work sometime next week."

"No problem. Bye, Peter!" he said before hanging up.

He was about to pocket his phone when it beeped with a text.

 **"Happy Birthday Peter! -Lila"** She has also sent him a little cake emoji.

Oh, yeah. He was supposed to hang out with her later today. Ice skating.

 **"Thanks, Lila."** he replied.

 **"Have fun at the zoo today! It's a cool breezy day, so the animals will probably all be out! :)"**

He frowned after reading that text. He had cancelled his plans to go to the zoo, what with what his children did. He definitely wasn't taking them out today, and he didn't want to go there alone.

 **"Had to cancel. Kids are grounded. Let me know what time you want to meet up for skating."**

She texted back quickly after. **"So no plans today then? That's not a fun birthday morning!"**

 **"Nah, it's all good. Talk to you later."**

 **"TTYL! :)"**

Peter finally pocketed his phone. He wanted to grab his Spider-Man outfit from his bedroom, that way if there was an emergency he didn't have to disturb Felicia.

He knocked on his bedroom door, which was pretty weird. It took about a minute for her to open up his door, and he gasped when he saw her.

"What are you doing in my clothes?" he whispered as he looked down at her quickly and then averted his eyes to her face.

She was wearing one of his black Twenty One Pilots t-shirts. Her black lace underwear was just barely showing under it.

"What? I didn't have any clothes of my own." she smiled. "Besides, don't tell me I don't look good in this."

He laughed and shook his head. "Felicia, if you were _any_ other girl right now, I would say you definitely looked good in my shirt. But, I'm not so sure I'll be wearing that again." He shuddered.

"Oh, grow up." She placed her hands on her hips. "Mind if I grab some breakfast and shower?"

"Yeah- yeah that's fine," he said trying to keep his eyes on her face.

"Well..?"

"Well, what?" he looked around.

She laughed slightly and sniffed. "Can you move? So I can, you know, get some breakfast and shower?"

"Oh yeah, no problem." He moved out of her way. "I'm just grabbing a few things out of here to bring to the living room."

"Mhm," she said as she made her way downstairs.

Peter had grabbed his spider pager, his outfit, a hoodie, and some clean clothes and brought them downstairs on a laundry basket. He then decided that since he wasn't sure how long Felicia was staying, he should make sure she had clean sheets. He quickly grabbed all his sheets and blankets and put them in their washing machine that was in their basement. As he waited for the load to be done, he put on the news in the living room to see if there were any more sitings of the black- of Harry.

"What's up?" Felicia asked as she walked into the living room.

Peter turned around and shook his head at her. "I have kids here you know." she had evidently taken a shower because her hair was dripping wet, and she had also apparently taken another one of his shirts to wear, and was in a different pair of her underwear, these being neon pink.

"Yeah, kids that are grounded to their rooms." she pointed out.

"How would Harry feel with you parading around here in your underwear?" he mumbled to himself as he switched the channel.

"We're not seeing each other, Parker," she nearly growled at him. "So maybe you should watch what you say." She sat on the couch next to him.

"Yeah okay... I'm just going to go take a shower myself while I wait for the sheets to be done," he said uncomfortably as he got up from the couch.

"The sheets?" she asked.

"Yeah I uh- I'm washing my sheets and blanket because I wasn't sure how long you're staying and wanted to uh- you know, make it easier for you to be here. I know you're used to better than this." He gestured to his house.

"Oh. Thanks, Peter," she said and focused on the TV again. He smirked to himself. She didn't even notice she had called him by his first name.

He went into his bathroom and quickly hopped in the shower. The doorbell rang minutes after he entered it. Great, he thought. Then something hit him, Felicia was the only one out there. What if it was Harry or Scarlet at his door. Then he laughed to himself. They wouldn't ring the doorbell if they were here.

Finishing up with his shower, he quickly dried off and put on some clothes to check who was at the door. As he opened the bathroom door, Felicia looked as if she was about to knock on it.

"You have a visitor, Parker." she said with an extremely smug expression on her face, arms crossed.

"Who is it?" he asked coolly.

"Go check and see," she laughed and followed him to the door.

Peter choked on the air as he saw through the front door window who it was, their assistant Lila Barton.

"You didn't answer the door, like this, did you?" he whispered, gesturing to her t-shirt and underwear ensemble.

"Maybe," she said deviously.

He smacked his forehead with his hand. "Great. This is just what I need to deal with."

He was about to open the door, when he noticed Felicia was still standing there.

"What?" she questioned innocently.

"Get out of here," he whispered to her, annoyed. She winked at him and walked towards the stairs, he assumed to his bedroom.

He let out a small breath and opened up his front door.

"Ms. Barton. Hi." He held out his hand for her to shake it.

"Lila," she said hesitantly as she shook his hand. "Happy Birthday, Peter."

"Thanks," he said as he walked onto the porch outside and shut the door behind him, cringing at what this might look like to her.

"What is Felicia Hardy doing in your house? I haven't actually seen her in years."

"Oh, that." He swept his hand nervously through his hair. "She had gotten a second home somewhere in South America and had been staying there for awhile. She showed up on my doorstep last night, her- uh- her father passed away a few nights away and she is pretty distraught."

A small disbelieving smile played its' way onto Lila's face. "Felicia's father passed away four years ago. I was just a temp at the time. I went to his funeral," she pointed out. "You did too."

"Oh..." He had no idea what to say to her. He must have looked like such a fool. He was about to turn around and go back inside.

"Look, if you two are sleeping together, that's fine. You're single, I get it. And it's your birthday." She began talking really fast. "But, I was hoping you'd come with me and maybe have a little fun on your birthday. Though, I guess by the looks of it, you already were..." she trailed off.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." he held his hands out. "Slow down. Felicia and I are definitely _not_ sleeping with each other. Ew." He shook his head and shivered, causing Lila to laugh. "It actually is a very long, complicated story, and I would rather not discuss it. I'm just helping her out for a few days."

"Okay." she shrugged. "Whatever you want to say. Now, I have these tickets for the American Museum of Natural History, care to come with me? We can get there by noon, and I think they close at 5:30 or so, so we can make it to a lot of the exhibits before closing time."

Huh, that was different. He was expecting something much different. She must have mistaken his pause for something else.

"Or if you have different plans I totally understand if this sounds totally boring." She began backing up. "If you still want to ice skate later just let me know."

Peter walked forward and grasped her hand to keep her from backing up even further. "Lila, it's fine. I'll come with you, it sounds really fun."

"Really? Felicia won't mind?" she said, peering up at a window on his house.

"What? No. Felicia and I aren't together. Just- just wait here. Let me go tell my kids I'm going out. Okay?" she nodded to him and he went back inside.

"Crazy. Seriously," he mumbled to himself as he walked up the stairs.

"Yeah, so?" Felicia said to him as she walked out of his room. "What did Lila need?"

"None of your business," he mumbled to her. "You know how this is going to look if she decides to tell _anyone_ at work she saw you here like this right?"

She shrugged. "We're both the owners, we're on the same level. It's not illegal or anything." she winked.

He huffed at her. "Listen, I'm heading out. Stay here. Call me if anything happens or if you hear about Scarlet or... well you know," he said without looking into her eyes.

She scoffed at him. "You're assigning me to babysitting detail?"

"Um, yeah." He nodded. "I'll be back later tonight. They can cook for themselves, just make sure they don't leave," he said as he grabbed a few things from his room.

She stood in his doorway giving him a disbelieving look.

"And put on some pants!" he yelled as he ran out the front door.


	8. Chapter 8

"Are you sure you've never done this before?" Lila said to Peter as he did another lap around the ice skating rink.

"Nah, I'm just a natural, I guess." He grinned to her, making her blush. "My kids like to ice skate, though. I can see why. It's actually pretty fun."

Apparently, Lila went ice skating every month or problem was, she was incredibly clumsy and spent most of the time hugging the sides of the rink so she wouldn't fall over. Peter had actually resorted to try giving her lessons while they were there, which he found hilarious seeing as it was his first time.

"Here just- just grab ahold of my hand and I'll bring you around the rink with me." He held his hand out to her.

She looked reluctantly at him. "Okay, but I'm sure I'm just going to fall again."

"I'll make sure you don't," he promised. She took his hand and they began to slowly ice skate together. "See? You're getting the hang of it," he laughed.

"I can't believe this, I skate all the time and I still can't get the hang of it. Well, usually I come here with my friends and we talk the whole time, but still."

"Don't worry about it. I'm just good with balance." he shrugged.

"It's funny because I'm the complete opposite. Which is actually pretty sad considering who my father is." She shook her head.

"Who's your father?" he asked.

"Clint Barton," she replied.

Peter stopped skating. "Clint Barton? As in Hawkeye!?"

"Aha, yup. The one and only." She smiled proudly.

He stared at her in awe. "I can't believe that! Why did I never ask you? Your last name is Barton, it should have rung a bell. But- wow. Wow. That's really cool."

"Yeah, he's great." She nodded. "Do you want to grab an ice cream cone?"

"Sure."

They slowly skated to the edge of the rink and went towards their lockers. Lila's skate got caught on the carpeting and she toppled forward.

"Gotcha," Peter laughed as he caught her right before she hit the ground.

"Thanks!" she gasped as he pulled her up. "Sorry about that."

"No problem. You're actually pretty amusing," he teased.

She looked at him with her mouth wide open, trying not to smile. "Excuse me? My extreme clumsiness is not amusing. It's not my fault that you're like superhuman when it comes to that stuff."

He laughed and shook his head as he opened up their locker, pulling out their shoes. "Here, maybe you should put these back on before you fall again," he suggested.

They got all of their items and returned the ice skates. The ice cream cones were being sold just a few stores down from the rink so they walked there straight away.

"What flavor do you want?" he asked her as he pulled out some money.

She also proceeded to take out money. "Wait, it's your birthday. I can pay."

"You already paid for the ice skating," he pointed out. "I have the ice cream."

She put away the money and smiled. "Thank you. And I like strawberry."

"Great." He looked towards the lady in the kiosk. "Can we please have one strawberry and one vanilla ice cream cone?"

"No problem. That will be $4.50," she replied.

Peter handed her the money and she gave him the ice cream cones.

"Anything else you want to do?" he asked Lila as he handed her the cone.

"It doesn't matter to me. I live close to here, about a thirty minute walk. Would you want to walk with me?" she asked.

"Sure." he shrugged. "I'm going to have to go home soon anyways."

He noticed she looked a little crestfallen at his comment.

"It's just that my kids are grounded and I need to make sure they're okay. Plus, I want to spend a little time with them," he went on.

"Oh, I understand," she said. "Come on, my house is this way."

They walked in comfortable silence for about ten minutes.

"So, I'm sorry, but I need to ask again. Is there anything going on between Felicia and you?" she asked out of nowhere.

He sighed. "No, there is definitely nothing going on between us. I don't even really like her that much. And she definitely doesn't like me," he laughed. "I'm just doing her a favor letting her stay at my house a few days. She was kind of... dating my old best friend and he passed away—" he trailed off. Harry was alive. Brainwashed and out for his blood, but alive nonetheless.

"Oh my god, I'm sorry," she said suddenly. "I didn't mean anything by it. You're single, so it's cool anyways. Plus you said this wasn't a date anyways..." she mumbled.

"Eh, it was kind of a date," he admitted. "We spent the day together, ate lunch, went ice skating, ate ice cream, I'm walking you home," he laughed. "You're a pretty cool person," he added.

She blushed and focused on the ground as she walked.

Peter's phone rang, startling Lila and she jumped, nearly falling again.

"Wow- just- wow," Peter laughed at her. "What are we going to do with you?"

She rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue at him as he answered the phone.

"Hello?" he answered. It was his house phone calling him.

"Parker, it's Felicia," came the voice from the other end.

"Oh. Why are you using the house phone? What's up?"

"We have a problem," she said slowly.

Peter stopped walking. "What's wrong?" he said seriously.

He heard Felicia take a big breath over the phone. "Andrew is missing. You should come home right now."

* * *

Peter took off right after he had hung up with Felicia. He told Lila there was a family emergency. She understood.

He stared in his son's empty bedroom. His bed covers were a mess, as usual. The window was left open. He walked over and shut the window, peering outside.

"So, nobody heard anything? You're sure nobody came inside?" he asked Felicia.

"I was in the living room and Violet came running down the stairs saying that Andrew was gone. He must have left out his window because nobody except you came in or out of the front door today," she answered.

"Dammit," he swore and walked to Violet's room. "Do you know where he went? Did he say anything to you?" he demanded.

She shook her head. Peter looked taken aback as he noticed what state she was in. Her eyes were red and she was quietly crying. Her arms wrapped around her knees as she sat on the bed.

Peter walked over and sat next to her on the bed. "Vi, what's wrong?" he asked more quietly.

"He's gone!" she choked back a sob. "Andrew's gone!"

"Which is why I need to go find him again. Does he have an extra suit or something?" Peter was perplexed by her behavior. Andrew had snuck out many times and she always covered for him. Apparently this time she had told Felicia about it right away, and now she was completely distraught.

She shook her head again. "No, I mean he left. He's gone and he's not coming back," she cried and buried her head into her arms.

"What makes you say that?" he cocked his head slightly.

With one hand she plunged her hand into her pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper and handed it to him. Peter took the paper from her, an uneasy feeling in his stomach.

 _"Vi,_

 _I'm sorry that I'm not telling you this in person. With that information, you'll just stop me if I let you know. The time has come for me to leave, for good this time. Goblin was right, I want to be my own person, and I feel this darkness in me. If Dad doesn't want me to be the hero, then he's forcing me to be the bad guy.. I can't live under his rules anymore, he doesn't want us to outshine him, and I'm not going to live under his shadow. Can you please promise to not come and find me to bring me back home, I'm not happy there. Find me if you decide you want to join, but if you decide you want to stay with Dad, I'll understand. Where I'm going, I do not know, but I'll contact you somehow. He's just so selfish, Vi, he doesn't understand and I'm sorry that it has to be this way. At some point I hope you see things my way, and we find each other again, you're my sister and my best friend, I love you. -Andrew"_

The words on the paper cut through him like a knife. Is this really what his son thought about him? He reread the paper, taking in every word.

 _"If Dad doesn't want me to be the hero, then he's forcing me to be the bad guy."_

Peter shook his head trying to clear it. He quickly looked up at Violet, who still had her head buried in her arms.

He brought his hand up to his chest, his heart was racing. His son had left them. He didn't want to be found and Peter had no idea where he went.

He read the note for a third time. There was something odd about it. It seemed like some of the sentences jumped around.

"What did he mean by 'Goblin was right', Vi? What did he say to you?" he lowered the paper in his lap.

She sniffed and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. "When we were in the building. The Goblin told him that he could sense a darkness inside of him. He said that Andrew wanted to be his own person, to be free."

"Did he say anything else?" he asked quickly.

"That he wanted to make sure everyone Spider-Man loved was dead. But when he was talking to Andrew, he was saying 'maybe he doesn't have to', and I could tell by how he was looking at him, he meant maybe he didn't have to kill him. He was talking about 'the darkness' he saw inside of him."

Peter growled to himself. His son was not a bad person, he proved that by how badly he wanted to be a hero. Harry had no idea what he was talking about.

What didn't make sense to Peter was how Andrew left Violet with such little to go off of. He knew he wouldn't, couldn't leave her forever without telling her where he was.

"Violet, are you sure this is the only note he left for you?" he questioned. She nodded and Peter swore again. "Is there anything I'm missing here? I mean, do you guys have any secret language or words or anything that might help us find where he went?"

Violet's eyes suddenly went wide and she snatched the paper out of Peter's hands, scanning it quickly. She smiled and then the smile fell almost instantly.

Like she had solved the puzzle, but the end result was bad news.

"Reread the note, Dad. Only the first word's though. The first word of every sentence." she said solemnly as she passed him back the note.

His face scrunched up in confusion as he took the note and reread it, his eyes mirrored Violet's as they went wide and he realized what it had said.

 _"Vi, I'm With The Goblin If I Can Find Where He's At. -Andrew"_

"Dammit, Andrew," Peter said to himself.

"We _need_ to find him," Violet urged. "That guy was insane, he can't go to him. We don't even know that he won't kill him."

Peter pulled out his cell phone and brought it to his ear. "Don't worry, we'll find him." he said to her.

"Aunt May!" he nearly yelled when she answered on the fourth ring. "Listen, I need your help, and fast."

"What's wrong, Peter?" she said worriedly.

"I need you to come to the house to watch Violet for me, and to let me know if Andrew comes back home," he said quickly.

Aunt May laughed. "He went out again, huh? I'm telling you, you can't keep that kid in the house, he'll always find—"

"No, it's different this time!" he nearly yelled into the phone. "He ran away from home. As in, he doesn't want to be found and he says he's not coming back."

 _"If Dad doesn't want me to be the hero, then he's forcing me to be the bad guy."_

That line on the note was ringing through his ears. He kept that part from his aunt, as well as the part where he said he was going to try to find the Goblin, who in all reality was Peter's supposedly dead best friend who had been experimented on and brainwashed for the past ten years.

"I'll be right there." she hung up the phone.

Peter pocketed the phone quickly. "Aunt May is on her way, she should be here in a couple minutes. I'm going to go find your brother."

"Where are we going?" he jumped at the voice in the room, not even noticing Felicia leaning up against the frame of the door.

"We? I'm going to find my son. He went looking for Harry. He wants to- wants to join him or something... I don't know!" He threw his hands up in the air.

This got her attention fast. "Harry? Why would he do that? He knows what he plans to do, right?"

"When Violet and Andrew saw him in the burning apartment building, he had said something to Andrew. About him having a darkness inside of him, something like that." he looked disgusted. "He told him that he knew he wanted to be free, and to be his own person. Andrew must think finding Harry again will- I don't know." he shook his head. "I can't believe this is happening."

The front door quietly opened and all three of them turned their heads towards the doorway. Aunt May popped into the room not a minute later. Her eyes flashed to Felicia momentarily but then she focused on Peter.

"Do what you need to do. We'll be right here." She gestured to Violet.

Peter ran downstairs, not even bothering to put his suit on; there wasn't any time. He burst through the front door and then just as he was about to walk off the front porch, he paused.

"You have no idea where to look do you?" Peter turned around to see Felicia standing behind him.

"No, I have no fucking idea," he said, peering into the night. "But I have to start somewhere."

"Well, Andrew said he wanted to find the Gob—Harry. So we need to find Harry before Andrew finds him. Simple," she stated.

"Yeah, simple," he snorted. "So where is Harry then?" he asked sarcastically.

"I _guess_ I can show you." She rolled her eyes. "But once we get there, I'm out. I can't have—" She paused. "-Scarlet find me. She'd bring me back to that island."

Peter stared at her, stunned. "You mean to tell me, you _actually_ know where they are and you didn't find it important to fucking tell me!?" he yelled.

She shrugged. "It never came up until now. Give me the keys to your car and I'll drive us near there and then I'll let you know the rest of the way."

He did as she said, shaking his head as he grabbed the keys.

They drove for about thirty minutes before Felicia stopped the car and stopped on the side of the road. They were on the outskirts of the city.

"Where are we?" he asked, looking around. All he could see from here was a half-standing Fed-Ex building.

"We have several 'safe' houses around the country. I happen to know at least five of them, obviously remembering this one here because it being close to home and all." She flipped her hair. "Stryker had them built for us in case any of us needed a place to bunk down for the night. I'll bet you they were in there."

"...In a torn down Fed-Ex factory..." he said skeptically.

She sniffed at him. "Of course not, Parker. It's _under_ the factory," she said as if it were completely obvious. "Give me your hand." She dug through her purse.

"My hand? Why?" he asked, taken aback.

"Never mind," she said as she took it herself and began scribbling a number on it.

She released his hand and he looked at what she wrote. '252252280'

"What is this number?"

"Seriously?" she hissed. "That's the code you can use to get inside. I mean you could always use '843462546', but that's Harry's code and it won't work if he's already in there."

Peter paused for a minute. "That's perfect, Felicia! Do you know Scarlet's code? I could try both of their codes before I enter, that way I at least know what I'm up against."

"Yeah, I know it. Give me your hand again."

She didn't comment on his plan, probably annoyed that she hadn't said it first. She wrote down Harry's code and then Scarlet's code underneath it. '627952630'

"Thanks," he said as he opened up the car door. "I'm going to scope the place out and make sure my son isn't down there. Text me if you end up finding him, or them."

"Be careful. Scarlet may not kill you, if you don't get in her way that is, but Harry, he- he's not stable. They were originally sent her to retrieve me, remember that, you're just a side mission." She winked at him. "I'll be back to get you in, let's say, thirty minutes. I need to pick something up really quick."

He shut the car door and she sped away. There seemed to be nobody in sight. He walked across the street to the building that was falling apart. There wasn't even a door to get into the building, so he just walked through one of the open walls. Boxes were practically everywhere, some of them empty, some of them filled with unsent things. He made his way to the end of the large warehouse.

A large bronze colored door stood out from everything else. It had obviously been built recently; it wasn't covered in dust like most things inside the building.

Peter checked around the building one last time before going back to the door. There were no signs of anybody in the building area, which he had figured but wanted to make sure first. There was a small box next to the door handle. He pulled the flip to it and there was a code pad underneath.

He punched in Harry's code and it beeped red. The door didn't open.

"Okay, so he's inside," he whispered to himself. He wasn't sure if he was more relieved or worried about this information.

Next, he punched in Scarlet's code. The door beeped green and opened up. He took a deep breath and walked inside, the door instantly shutting behind him and locking. He turned around quickly and saw you had to punch in your code to leave again.

There was a long hallway ahead of him, charcoal colored brick lined the walls. His spider sense wasn't going off at all, but he still felt extremely anxious.

He got to the end of the hallway and there was a large open room, dimly lit. Nobody was inside this room either, and he wondered where Harry was. The room branched off in several directions and Peter took the first left. This new hallway brought him to a room with a glass door, which was locked. He peered inside and saw one bed and one table. There were a couple throwing stars on top of the table, and the bed seemed to be slept in recently. He turned around to go back to the open room and take another turn.

As he made his way to the second room, the eerie feeling he had was back. It was yet again, another locked glass door room that contained one bed and one table. There were clothes tossed about the room, and what looked to be a bloody knife thrown carelessly on the table...

Peter shivered and made his way back to the large room. There were only two hallways left. He listened for a moment, to see if he could hear any movement at all throughout the building, but nothing. He made his way down the third hallway. His assumptions of there being room with a glass door was correct.

Only this time, the room was unlocked. It was similar to the others, one bed and one table. The room itself was rather small, maybe ten by twelve feet. There were two drawers on the table, and he pulled open the first one, but it was empty. Shutting it, he opened up the second drawer. There was a small metal chip, about an inch long. He picked it up and studied it, noticing there was dried blood on it.

I hope this isn't what I think it is, he thought. Suddenly, he heard a very quiet clinking noise. Turning his head to the noise quickly, he saw a small round orange metal orb on the floor.

"Shit," he said, quickly pulling his hoodie sleeve back over his web shooters, he webbed the orb and was about to toss it out of the room, just as the door slammed shut. The orb bounced off the door, not even making a mark. It started to make a hissing sound, and he prepared himself for whatever was about to come. Instead of exploding, it began releasing an iridescent gas. He pulled his hoodie over his mouth and nose and attempted to open the door, it wouldn't budge. He looked at where the door touched the floor, there was no space between it, the gas would fill the room quickly. He shut his eyes and took in a breath, calming himself.

When he opened his eyes, he noticed a figure standing, arms crossed in front of the door. His eyes slowly made there way to the face of the figure, and he couldn't believe what he saw.

Yes, he knew that Harry Osborn was still alive. Felicia and his children had told his this. But to see him like this, to see his smile twisted in a malicious grin as he looked at Peter. Was he imagining things, or did his canines seem longer and sharper than usual? To see the insanity clear as day in his vibrant green eyes was too much. Even when they were pure enemies, he had never seen this face on Harry. What had they done to his best friend?

"Looks like I caught myself a spider," Harry sneered through the glass.


	9. Chapter 9

The mysterious gas was quickly filling the room. Peter could feel it tingling as it made it's way into his lungs.

He attempted to punch the glass door, but he felt himself weakening. The room started to spin and he tried to focus on the figure in front of him.

"Harry... what is... this stuff?" he managed to gasp out.

"Don't worry, this stuff won't kill you. It's simply meant to weaken your powers."

Peter tried hitting the glass again.

"It won't break. It's basically missile-proof," Harry jeered.

The tips of Peter's fingers were going numb. He flexed his hand, hoping it wasn't going to spread. This was not how he wanted to reunite with his old friend. He looked at Harry again, not mentioning the blood splattered on his suit and his face. Who's blood was it?

"Whatever you think I did, Harry, it's a lie."

The orange orb on the floor finally stopped releasing the gas. Peter looked back at the bed and table that seemed to warp before his eyes. A loud thump on the door caused him to turn back. Harry must have punched the door because there was now a long thin crack in the glass.

"You mean you didn't deny me your blood when it could have saved me!? Didn't lie to me about being Spider-Man!? Steal MJ from me? Smash the so-called 'cure' right in front of me? LEAVE ME FOR DEAD IN SOME SHITTY BUILDING!?" Harry screamed, eyes blazing in anger.

Peter stared at him, mouth slightly ajar. When Harry said these things that way, it sounded much worse than it was.

"That's what I thought," Harry muttered.

He shook his head. "You were dead."

"You _thought_ I was dead, Parker. I bet you're not too happy to see me now." Harry grinned. Peter noticed that he kept mumbling to himself. His bright green eyes never really focused on one thing; they were always shifting to something else.

"I am, Har—" he said, leaning against the wall. His hands were beginning to shake and it was difficult to stay standing. He let himself slump to the ground, back against the wall.

"Lies." Harry shook his head at him and snickered. "Hey Parker, I have a name that is not mine and no one cares about me in their prime. People cry at my sight and lie by me all day and night. What am I?"

Peter looked up at the doorway, pulling his eyebrows together in confusion.

"What? What are y-you talking about?" The twitching in his hands was starting to spread. Dots began to cloud his vision.

"A tombstone, Parker, it's a tombstone!" he growled in frustration. "Pay attention!"

Without warning, Peter saw a yellow light flash on the other side of the door, and Harry instantly fell to the ground, unmoving.

He grabbed the wall, trying to steady himself for whatever was out there. The glass door suddenly opened and another figure made its way into the room.

Getting into a defensive position, he readied himself to fight this person if it came down to it. He wasn't going to be stuck down here when he needed to find his son.

"Well, you're in quite a state aren't you?" He heard a chuckle. He couldn't stay up any longer. "Parker? Hey, Parker!" was all he heard before everything went black.

* * *

"So, when's your friend coming over?" Harry asked, sitting cross-legged on his bed. He was playing _Need for Speed_ as Peter finished up his science homework at his desk.

"She should be here any minute," Peter answered, chewing on the tip of his pencil. "Why do you care?" He hid his smile. Harry had only met Mary Jane a couple weeks ago, but he could tell he liked her.

Harry shrugged. "She seems pretty cool. Besides, I do need a gaming partner over here. You're just worried about your homework," he teased.

Peter took a rubber band from his desk and flicked it at Harry, hitting him in the arm.

"Ow!" Harry paused the game and reached for the rubber band. "I'm so getting you back, man."

He jumped off of the bed, pulled back, and the rubber bank hit Peter square in the chest.

He was about to retaliate when he heard his aunt's voice from downstairs.

"Peter, Mary Jane is here! I'm sending her upstairs!"

"Alright, Aunt May!" he called back.

Harry quickly straightened out his clothes. He jumped back onto the bed and began to play the game again, his eyebrows slightly pushed together.

A moment later, the girl with vibrant red hair entered his bedroom.

"Hey, Peter!" she yelled, running up to him and gave him a hug. "Harry." she nodded in his direction.

"MJ," Peter greeted her. Harry just nodded back.

"What are you up to?" she asked, leaning over his shoulder.

"Just finishing up this homework. I should be done soon. Harry is playing _Need for Speed_ if you want to play until I'm done."

Mary Jane quickly glanced over at Harry. "Sure! You don't mind, Harry?"

He quickly shook his head. "No, it's fine, we can take turns. Or pick a new game. Whichever is fine."

She jumped onto the bed and sat next to him. "Hand me that, please," she said, pointing to the unused controller.

"Here you go." Harry blushed as Mary Jane's hand brushed his as she took the controller from his hand.

Peter quietly snickered. Harry looked behind him and threw a grateful smile at him.

* * *

He wasn't exactly sure what had happened. One moment he was warm and comfortable, and then suddenly his entire body felt the shock of the extreme cold.

"Aahhh!" he yelled, trying to escape the freezing temperature. He clung to the whatever he touched first. The first thing he noticed was that he was upside down. The second was there was a woman standing in front of him, attempting to suppress her laughter. His bewildered expression caused her to place her hand over her mouth to further cover her laughter.

That's when he lost grip of whatever he was stuck to. This caused the woman to burst out laughing. Peter felt his cheeks getting hot with embarrassment and he carefully stood up,legs still shaking.

"Easy, Parker," she warned. She took a step forward as if she were going to help him, but then stepped back into place.

"Felicia? Where are we?" he asked, swaying a bit. Then, he remembered. "Wait, Harry!" He looked around quickly.

"He's not here right now. Don't worry I don't think he'll find us here." She tossed a towel to him.

He blinked a few times and his vision finally came back into focus.

" _Why_ am I in a shower?" he questioned, looking down at his sopping wet clothing. She had apparently dumped ice cold water onto him.

She shrugged. "I didn't want to get the carpet wet and this was the easiest way to wake you up. Or at least the funniest."

"Wait, wait." He held up his arms, the wet hoodie sleeves hanging down. "What did you do? What happened?"

Felicia rolled her eyes at him and set down a pile of what looked like clothes on the sink. "Dry off and put these on. Come meet me in the living room when you're done."

Peter rushed in getting the cold wet clothes off his back and dried off. The clothes that Felicia had given him fit him well enough, a little too long if anything.

He left his wet clothes in a pile on the floor hoping he would remember them later. When he opened the door, there was a single hallway that brought him right to the living room. Felicia was waiting for him on one of the couches.

"So," he began, "who's clothes are these?" he gestured to the cargo shorts and blue cotton t-shirt. He took a seat on the couch opposite from her.

"An old friend, you could say. He gave me a set of keys to his place years ago, letting me know I could hide out here whenever I needed to." Peter nodded. "Now, tell me what happened before I arrived."

Peter quickly went over what happened while he was in the underground hideout. She had her phone out and was texting the entire time, but she nodded every now and then.

"...and that's when I saw the yellow flash. Harry fell over and then I think I blacked out," he finished awkwardly, not even knowing if she had actually heard anything. "So... what happened after that?"

"Hold on one second." She held up her finger as she finishing typing whatever it was on her phone. He sat back on the couch, irritation clearly showing on his face. About a minute passed by and he couldn't handle waiting any longer

"Are you seriously just going to sit there on your phone while I'm waiting to hear what happened?" He stood up from the couch.

Felicia stopped texting for a moment, raising an eyebrow and pursing her lips at him. "Sit back down, Parker."

He shook his head and sat back on the couch.

"There we go." Felicia smiled and pocketed her phone.

"Seriously, what couldn't wait?" he huffed.

"Okay, I'm getting _really_ tired of your attitude," she sniffed at him. "But, due to the nature of things, your son being missing and all, I'll let it slide this time. Now, as for whom I was texting, it was your aunt and another friend of mine."

"My aunt?" He didn't expect that. "Why? How'd you even get her number?"

She sighed and spoke slowly, emphasizing each syllable as if she were speaking to a child. "I wanted to stay in touch with her in case Andrew came back home, which he didn't. She and Violet are doing okay, though."

"Oh- oh yeah. Gotcha, makes sense," he agreed, embarrassed by his outburst.

"The friend I was talking to, he works for the police. I gave him Andrew's name and description and told him that he was a runaway. So, the police will be looking for him now, and I'm not sure if that's what you wanted, but I don't think we really have another choice right now."

"You're right. Thank you."

"And now that that's taken care of, I'll let you know what happened. I know a simple way to incapacitate Harry and Scarlet, well, anyone with a chip implant. I drove over to Sean Wilen's house, my cop friend, who lent me his taser. You just need to apply electricity directly to the area the chip is in. Which is right above the right ear by the way, but you already knew that." She winked and pointed to her head.

"It only knocks them out for maybe ten or twenty minutes, though. And then you passed out on me, so I had to drag your ass out of there, sweating bullets, worried that Scarlet was going to show up any second. Your dead weight was a bitch to carry out of there, by the way," she scoffed and shook her head. "What?" she asked him.

Peter realized he had been staring.

"You dragged me out of there?" he asked.

"Well, that's a bit obvious isn't it, Parker? You most likely wouldn't be alive otherwise." She rolled her eyes, shrugging it off.

"Thank you," he said sincerely.

Felicia was not the type of person to put herself in danger to help others. The fact that she had done this for him, a person she didn't like so much, meant a lot to him.

"Whatever. It was nothing."

"You just said it was a 'bitch' to carry me out of there," he pointed out.

She narrowed her eyes at him but didn't reply.

"So, who lives here?" he asked, changing the subject.

She leaned back on the couch, closing her eyes. "Flash Thompson."

"Flash? Flash lives here?" He jumped up off the couch. "I haven't seen him since- well, it's been a long time. Why didn't you come here in the first place?"

Felicia opened her eyes, with a look of disgust on her face. She reached behind her and grabbed something with the tips of her fingers.

"Maybe because of this," she said, holding up a moldy piece of pizza and then tossing it onto the floor. "Ugh, let's get out of here."

"Agreed."

Peter found a grocery sack in the kitchen and tossed his wet clothes into it. Felicia had already gone outside and he followed her out to the car. He huffed as he saw she was already in the driver's seat.

"Get out, I'm driving."

"Fine." She rolled her eyes and crawled over into the passenger seat.

"No- not like- really?" Peter shook his head as she crawled into the next seat instead of getting out of the car.

"What?" she asked innocently. "This car is like ten years old already so no big deal if I scuff up the inside a bit," she sniffed.

"Yeah, but I've kept it in pretty good condition."

"It's a 2015 Acura NSX. You, well, _we_ , own a multi-billion dollar company and this is the car you get? Well, at least you got a good color." The car was candy-apple red with an all black interior.

Peter looked at her in disbelief. "I don't care that much about stuff. If you don't like the car then get out."

"Let's just go," Felicia said, stuffing her cell phone into her purse.

They had almost made the entire drive home in complete silence.

"So what kind of car do you drive then?" he asked suddenly.

She smiled deviously. "I still have the Lamborghini Aventador that Harry bought me when he was still working at Oscorp. All black, with black interior of course."

Peter failed to hide the awe he felt.

They pulled into his driveway, the lights were still all on.

"You want to go inside? I think I'm going to cruise around for a bit. See if I can find him," Peter said.

"You're not going to find him tonight," she said. "We have no leads whatsoever. The police are looking for him. You should go inside and talk to your daughter. Tomorrow is a new day." She slid out of the car, shutting the door behind her.

He watched as Felicia went into the house and his aunt came outside a moment later. Sighing, he turned the car off and hopped out.

"You didn't find him?" Aunt May asked, looking at him with pleading eyes.

He shook his head, eyes focused on the ground.

She patted him on the shoulder. "Felicia told me she informed the police. I'm going to go home and make some flyers to put around the city in the morning. Violet is waiting for you on the couch."

"Thanks, Aunt May. For everything." He hugged her and waved goodbye as she got into her car and drove off.

"Dad!" Violet jumped off the couch and ran up to him as he walked into his house. "I asked Felicia what happened but she said to wait for you."

"We couldn't find him, Vi." It pained him to see the heartbroken look on his daughter's face. "He wasn't with the- with Harry. Felicia put in a missing person's report with the police though."

"He just wasn't with him because he couldn't find him yet!" she said sullenly.

"Don't worry." he said, hugging his daughter. "We _will_ find him. I promise."


	10. Chapter 10

It had been several weeks since Andrew had run away from home. Peter had no new leads, there had been no sightings, nothing.

School started and despite her protests, he made Violet go. She insisted she stay home and help look for clues to where Andrew was, but Peter told her there was literally nothing that she could do at this time.

Felicia came and went as she pleased. Until Harry and Scarlet were captured, she and Peter agreed it wasn't safe for her to go home. The problem was, ever since Peter had escaped the underground safe-house, there had been no more incidents involving either of them. This was even more unnerving to Peter and Felicia because they obviously had not packed up and gone home.

Aunt May had littered the city and surrounding suburbs with Andrew's picture. Even so, they had gotten no phone calls or tips. Peter was starting to feel very pessimistic about the whole thing, but he was not giving up.

"Dammit!" Peter swore as he brought his fist down on the newspaper lying on the table. The article had read, _"New York City Safe Again?"_ , and explained how neither of the black or red suited superhumans had been seen recently.

He looked over at Felicia who was staring intently at the ceiling.

"You're not going to find any answers up there," he snarked as he crumpled up the paper and tossed it into the trashcan.

"It's hard to think when all _you_ do is swear and get angry at a piece of paper everyday," she said, rubbing her temples. "Besides, I have no idea where to go from here. The closest safe house was cleaned out. We checked a few of the others, but they were empty too. We're just going to have to wait until they decide to make another appearance."

"I can't just keep waiting, Felicia. I just- I feel so useless sitting here doing nothing." He sighed and rested his head in his arms.

She sat silently across the table from him. What did he expect her to say? The only reason she was still here was because she needed him to deal with Scarlet and Harry. She probably couldn't wait until she never had to be in this house again. He was just grateful that she was helping him attempt to track down Andrew.

Wherever his son was, he was being very careful to cover his tracks. He hadn't made contact with any of his friends, not that Peter had expected him to, but he hadn't even tried to get in touch with Violet, which surprised Peter.

Peter flinched when he felt a pressure on his arm and he looked up. Felicia was half-smiling at him with her hand on his arm.

"I was about to say some overly-sentimental mushy bull, but the look on your face totally took all seriousness out of it," she sniffed and pulled her arm back to her side.

"Well uh- thanks anyways, Felicia." He took his arms off the table and sat up in his chair. "Vi should be home any minute," he said off-hand, looking at the clock on the wall.

Right on time, the front door burst open and Violet came running inside.

"Dad!" She looked around quickly and spotted Peter in the kitchen. "I know a way we can find Andrew!" she said as she sat herself down at the table with them.

"Oh yeah? How's that?" He forced a smile.

"We can just get him to come to me." Both of her eyebrows were raised, awaiting his response.

He glanced at Felicia for a moment, who seemed preoccupied with her phone again.

"Vi," he started carefully, "I don't think he's going to come. How would you even get ahold of him? We've been trying for several weeks now. I'm sorry but I just—"

"Wait, you don't even know what I mean." she jumped out of the chair. "I can get him to come to me. Remember how we can tell when each other is in danger? It basically leads us to each other. All I have to do is get myself into danger somehow, and he'll come. I know he will." She smiled proudly.

"No." he shook his head. "Why would you even think that's an option? It's not like you can fake being in danger. It wouldn't work."

"That's why I need to be in _real_ danger." She narrowed her eyes. "This is _Andrew_ , Dad. He's my only brother and I need to help him."

"You're not putting yourself in danger to find him. He's already in danger. I can't have something happen to the both of you."

" _He's_ not in any danger, though. I haven't felt anything, so wherever he is, he's not in any danger at the moment. I just- I miss him." Her face fell.

Peter pondered what she had said for a moment. She hadn't felt that her brother was in any danger, that was... curious. Wherever, or whomever he was with, he wasn't in any kind of physical trouble at least. It barely comforted him though, knowing who he was most likely with.

"Be that as it may, you're not putting yourself in trouble," he said seriously.

She stood silently for a moment before nodding her head. "Okay, no problem, Dad." She turned and headed for the stairs.

"I mean it, Vi. Please, don't do anything foolish," he urged her. He sighed as she continued up the stairs without answering him.

"I'm actually worried to see what they'll be like as teenagers," Felicia said as she set her phone down on the table.

"Fuck you, Felicia," he said, although there was no real venom behind his words.

"She kind of has a point, you know," she said thoughtfully.

Peter cocked his head slightly and narrowed his eyes at her. "You've got to be kidding me."

"How does it work exactly?"

"If one of them is in life-threatening danger, the other can sense it. They can sense where the other is. Violet thinks that Andrew would come to her if she were in danger," Peter said carefully, "which I won't allow to happen."

She nodded. "Okay, so one is in danger and the other comes to the rescue. Obviously you wouldn't want to put Violet in any _real_ danger. So... we won't put her in real danger, but..." Felicia got up from her chair and brought her hand up to chin, "would it still work if she only _thought_ she was in real danger?"

"What do you mean? Like fake it?"

"Exactly. I could 'kidnap'," she air-quoted the word, "Violet, threaten her or something, make her think she's in actual danger, and maybe it would draw Andrew out. You could be waiting nearby and once he comes, we catch him and get him out of there." She looked smugly at him.

"That- that might actually work." He smiled. "Felicia, you're a genius."

Just then the spidey pager started to go off. Peter jumped out of his chair and grabbed the pager off the living room table, pressing the response button immediately.

"Spider-Man! That guy who calls himself Mysterio is robbing another bank! He is at Capital One on 7th Street and Navarro Avenue."

Peter looked up at Felicia who had an eyebrow raised at him. He ran into the next room over and got suited up for his confrontation with Mysterio. As he was about to bolt out the back door, Felicia blocked his way.

"You coming with or something?" he said quickly, looking around her.

She sniffed at that. "Yeah, right, _hero_. I'm just letting you know that I'm heading out. That stunt we were just talking about is still going to happen. Today."

"Felicia, I have to go, now. We'll talk about it later." He shoved past her and swung into the city.

* * *

As he neared the bank, he wondered why it was so quiet. Too quiet. That's when he saw it.

He quickly swung down. There were twenty or so officers laying on the ground.

Dropping to the ground, he headed to the closest police officer and put his finger to the man's jugular vein. He felt a pulse.

"Still breathing, thank god." he said to himself. With a quick look around, it seemed like they were all breathing, just passed out. What had happened here?

Peter made his way into the building, frowning as he saw more people passed out onto the ground. There was an empty silver canister. Cautiously, he picked it up. Whatever had happened to these people, it was obvious that this was the object responsible for it. He set it back on the ground and made his way behind the bank.

He heard a man talking to himself, and he silently crept up to the vault. The man that he had encountered at the last bank was standing with his back turned to him, shoving bundles of money into what looked like a pillow case.

"Mysterio, a man with your means I'd figure could afford more than a pillow case," Peter snickered as the man jumped slightly at his voice.

"Spider-Man? How did you know it was me!?" he bellowed.

"The fishbowl kind of gives it away," he said, tapping his head.

The man growled at him and he raised his hand. "Nobody else should have known about this! I made sure that everyone was asleep. It's your turn now."

Another silver canister seemed to pop out from the man's hand. Peter quickly web zipped the canister into the next room just as it began letting out a misty gas.

"Spider-Man! Help me!" A girl's voice came from somewhere in the building.

"More hostages? Really?" Spider-Man rolled his eyes at the man. "Let me guess, your blonde partner 'Gwen' is with the hostage?"

Mysterio seemed to pause for a moment. "...Yes. And if you don't let me go right now, we may have to repeat what happened last time."

"Sorry, no can do."

Peter flung his webbing at the guy and started to tie up his legs. Mysterio quickly pressed a button on his arm and, with a swish from his hand, Peter's web shooters suddenly jammed up.

"Uh-oh, that's not good." Peter began clicking his web shooters but nothing would come out.

He looked up and jumped just in time to dodge a fireball. Peter leapt out of the way and quickly looked behind him; the fireball had gone straight through the bank wall and hit the building next door.

"Crap. Be right back."

Peter ran straight through the burnt brick and into the building next door. His shoulder had a sudden sharp pain out of nowhere, but he ignored it for now. People were screaming and running from the building. He looked down at the smoldering ball of ash on the ground. The fireball had gone through the walls, but the fire on it had gone out quite suddenly. That was good news at least. He looked up just in time to see a teenager in a green apron staring at him, mouth wide open. Looking around, her saw he was in some sort of cafe.

"Mind if I have a frappuccino to go please?" he asked the teenager.

"Uhhh...uh" he stared at Peter, eyes wide.

"Spider-Man!" he heard his name from behind.

Peter sighed. "Never mind, I have a guy to fight and a hostage to save."

He turned around and jumped back through the hole on the side of the cafes wall.

Mysterio was waiting for him in the burnt down wall in the bank. Peter came running up to him and swung his fist, attempting to uppercut him, but his fist went right through him. As if he were a hologram.

"What the—" Peter started as the Mysterio-hologram laughed and then suddenly disappeared. "Well... crap." he said again.

"Spider-Man, help me please!" he heard the voice again. Mysterio was nowhere in sight, so he quickly ran to the room he thought the voice had come from.

"Gwen? If that _is_ your name. Let the hostage—" he began, and then saw a little girl tied up in a clerk's office.

"Help me!" the little girl yelled again.

"Don't worry, I'll help you," he assured her. "Do you know where the other two are?" he asked as he made his way to the girl.

Just then, the little girl started to laugh. Peter froze, quickly looking around. He had no idea what would make the girl laugh; she should be completely terrified. She couldn't be more than eight years old.

The girl stood up from the ground, the ropes on her hands falling to the floor. Peter shook his head as the ropes actually disappeared as they hit the floor.

"When are you going to learn that nothing is ever is as it appears?" the girl laughed again.

The girl's body suddenly began changing. It was as if her body was made up of many different scales and they began switching and turning around. She grew taller, and her brown hair changed to blonde. It all happened within a few seconds, but suddenly the little girl was gone and Gwen was standing in front of him again.

"What- what is happening?" he shook his head.

"How are you feeling, Peter? You don't look so well," the Gwen-look-alike said to him. She suddenly pulled out a gun from her jacket pocket.

"What the fuck is happening!?" he repeated.

He tried to web the gun from her hands but then he remembered that Mysterio had somehow jammed up his web shooters.

"Now don't worry, I'm not going to kill you. Just a flesh wound." Gwen steadied the gun in her hand and had the sights on Peter.

Peter's spider sense was going off like crazy but he couldn't find it in him to look away from the figure in front of him. Who, or better yet, _what_ was this person?

"Wait," Peter put his arms out in a submissive form, "just answer a few questions for me first."

"Do you really think you're in any position for that?" Gwen sniffed and smiled deviously at him.

"I could dodge that bullet still. I don't need my web shooters for that." He smirked.

She kept her gun pinned on him. "But do you really want to risk it? What if Mysterio did more than just jam your shooters? What if your reflexes fail you?"

"You already said you weren't shooting to kill," he pointed out. "I'm just curious about some things."

The blonde pondered it for a moment before answering. "Okay, I'll bite. But I'm kind of running low on time here so please, do hurry."

"You're not the real Gwen Stacy, are you?"

"No."

"So why do you look like her? How can you change what you look like. Wh-what are you?"

She flipped her hair. "I just figured this body," she gestured to herself with her free hand, "would unnerve you the most. I can change into anyone I want to."

As if to show him that she was serious, she quickly shifted through several forms. Peter watched as 'Gwen' changed from several random people, to his Aunt May, to Captain Winchester, and finally to himself.

Peter stared at, well, himself. "That's so creepy," he said as he watched himself steady the gun that was pointing at him.

"So, what's your endgame? You don't want to kill me, but you've obviously trying to get my attention. What are you doing?" Peter wanted to keep her- or him for the moment- talking.

The other him rolled his eyes and put his free hand on his hip. "No, I don't want to kill you. I have to look like I at least tried though, hence why I need to shoot you. Mysterio doesn't know my true intentions, nor will I let him. I'm partnering up with him because it's much easier to steal money when you have a guy that can perform nearly any kind of allusion to help out."

"What do you need the money for?" he pressed.

"What _don't_ you need money for nowadays?" he laughed and then changed back into Gwen.

"You don't need to do this. I have plenty of money, I can help you out," he tried to reason with her. "Just tell me why you need it and maybe I can do something about it."

"You shouldn't offer to help to people you don't know," she said seriously to him. "Now, I have a few questions of my own."

"Do you now?" Peter took a step nearer the window of the office. "I can't wait to hear."

"I saw that your son was missing. How goes the hunt for him?"

Peter turned his head towards her, her face was smug. "Why the hell do you care about that?" he spat at her.

"I'm just... curious," she used his word from earlier, "about why you've him reported as a missing person, considering the company he's with."

"You know who has my son!?" he nearly shouted. "Where is he?"

"The 'where' I have no idea. The 'who' is obvious. He's joined the Black Heart team."

"How do you even have this information?" Peter took several steps towards Gwen, but she shook the gun in her hand, reminding him of it. "How do you know about that?" he repeated.

"Because I'm one of his. Stryker's team, that is. He wants you to join him, you know. He doesn't want you dead."

Peter quickly scanned the girl's head. There was no small blinking chip on the side of her head, like there was with Harry and Scarlet.

"If you're one of his team, why doesn't he have you chipped? It would be a problem if he lost one of his dogs, wouldn't it?"

"I joined him by choice. I didn't need one of those." She smiled and then her lips went into a thin line. "I'm serious though, Peter. He doesn't want to kill you."

"That's why he's sent Harry after me, right?" he scoffed.

The girl sighed and slightly lowered the gun. "They're here to get Felicia back. She's lucky I haven't said anything yet." Peter quickly tried to hide the guilty look on his face. "Yeah that's right, I know she's been staying with you."

"Then why haven't you said anything yet?" he inquired.

She shrugged. "That wouldn't be any fun, or fair for that matter. Anyways, if you want my advice, you should take yourself and Violet to Stryker himself. Talk with him. He doesn't have to be the bad guy. If you decide to join him, I know he'll call Harry off of you guys."

"I never said I wanted your advice. You're all a bunch of criminals. You hurt people. Why would I ever join you?" Peter sighed. "Why aren't you with the other two anyways?"

"Those two don't even know I exist," she said simply. "I'm one of Stryker's secret team members. I get more leash than the others." She winked at him.

Peter nodded, trying to absorb all of the information she was giving him. "What did you mean earlier, about my son? You asked me why he's filed as a missing person, despite his present company. I don't think my thought-to-be-dead best friend who is currently brainwashed to hate and/or kill me really qualifies as the best babysitter."

The blonde scrunched her face up in obvious confusion. "I wasn't talking about Harry—" A loud pop stopped her.

Peter assumed she had shot him, but he quickly checked himself over and found he was fine. When he looked up, the blonde was staring at her torso, which was starting to bleed through her shirt. She dropped to her knees, her gun falling to the floor.

"Parker! Over here!" a familiar female voice shouted from behind the blonde. A woman dressed in all black, wearing a gas mask, was gesturing him over to her.

"But- she's shot—" he began.

"She'll be fine! She'll heal. We need to get out now!"

Peter quickly apologized to 'Gwen' and ran up to the woman. "Felicia?"

"Duh, Parker. Let's go." She nodded to the red car parked near the building, which he found annoying; it was _his_ car. He followed her into the car, nonetheless, even allowing her to drive.

"Did you have to shoot her, Felicia!? She was giving me information about my Andrew!" he shouted, slamming his car door shut just as she took off.

"If you didn't notice, she had a gun trained on you, Parker. I did you a favor. Besides, you got enough information. I wasn't going to let you die _before_ you helped me with Harry and Scarlet." She shook her head.

"Okay, well if you knew how much information I got, then you must have heard her say she wasn't going to kill me," he pointed out.

"And you just all of a sudden trust a villain?" she half-shouted.

"I trust you," he said seriously.

She opened her mouth as if to answer, but then shut it quickly. Peter turned his head to stare out the window. They both sat in silence for several minutes before he realized they weren't going towards his home.

"Where are you taking us?" he said suddenly, peering out the window.

She looked at him and then glanced back at the road.

"Where are we going?" he repeated.

"You said you trust me, right?" she said quietly.

"To an extent, yes." He smiled slightly and she rolled her eyes at him. "I at least trust you not to try to kill me." He grinned at her.

"Well good, then trust me on this." She pulled out her phone and dialed a number quickly. The person on the other lined answered right away. "We'll be there in ten- no make that six minutes," she said as she sped up and then shut the phone.

"Felicia.." he said warily.

"We're going to a more secluded place, away from people." She looked at him. "Tonight... we're getting Andrew back."


	11. Chapter 11

Peter and Felicia pulled into what suspiciously looked like a vacant building currently being used as a drug den. The crumbling building was graffitied on every surface. The houses on either side were in much the same state.

"Uh, Felicia, isn't it kind of obvious that we're here if my car is parked here?" Peter asked as she turned off the engine.

" _This_ isn't the place we're meeting at. This is the place where one of my friends will watch your car until we're back from the second destination."

"You mean we're leaving my car _here_?" he asked uncertainly as he got out from his car. "I'm not too comfortable with that."

"I'm doing this to help you get your son back," she scoffed. "My friend is reliable, believe me. He won't let anything happen to your car."

She shook her head and looked at the building, whistling loudly. A moment later, a stocky man with dirty blonde hair missing in clumps, stumbled out of the building.

"Fe-Fe!" the man greeted as he wrapped his arms around her in a hug. Peter was surprised that she hugged him back, given the condition he was in. His tan colored shirt looked like it had grease smudged all over it and his jeans were completely torn up.

"Hey, Bobby," she greeted. "This is my friend, Dennis." She gestured towards Peter.

"We'll be back soon, Bobby. No one but us is aloud to take the car, got it?" she said as she handed him a gun. "If anyone tries to steal it, you shoot."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Peter put his hands out. "He doesn't have to shoot someone for stealing my car."

Felicia clicked her tongue at him. "Okay, fire a warning shot and if that doesn't work, you shoot them." She took Peter by the arm. "Come on, Dennis, we're going to be late."

"Dennis? Really?" Peter whispered to her when they were out of hearing range.

"I had to think of a boring name that would fit you and that's what came to mind." She smirked. "Besides, a lot of people think of you as a menace."

"Whatever, Fe-Fe."

She gave him an incredulous look. "You of all people are not aloud to call me that."

"So who was that guy then?" he questioned. He had obviously known her name, but he wasn't too sure what else the man knew, with her coming up with a fake name for him and everything.

"Bobby is my second cousin. He's a schizophrenic and a meth addict. Tragic," she said, picking up her pace.

"And you left him in charge of my car? And gave him a gun? That's just—"

"Anyways, here's the plan. Flash Thompson has your daughter—"

"Wait, what!?" Peter stopped walking. "Why does Flash Thompson have my daughter, Felicia?"

She did the eye roll thing that Peter was really starting to hate. "Well, if you'd let me finish telling you the plan, you'd know. I already told Flash everything he needs to know. He wouldn't hurt her, Peter. You know him." Felicia began walking again.

"Yeah, I know," he said grudgingly, catching up to her. "So what's happening then? Tell me what I need to do."

"Basically, Flash is going to pretend that he wants revenge against you, and he paid me to turn Violet over to him. He's going to give me money, which is actually _my_ money because he has none of his own—"

"Stick to the plan, Felicia..." he said through his teeth.

"Okay, anyway, Violet will think I've handed her over for the cash. She'll think she's in real danger and then Andrew will come," she said simply. "You'll stay out of sight until he shows up. Then we catch him and bring him home."

"I don't even know if it will work," Peter said. "I'm not sure if she has to be in actual danger, or if it's just if she thinks she is."

"I guess we'll find out, won't we?" she smirked.

"Wait a minute," he said suddenly, "Mysterio jammed up my web shooters. What if I need to use them?"

"Really, Parker?" Felicia sniffed. "See that tree?" She pointed.

"Uh... yeah?"

"Shoot it with your webbing really quick." She put her hands on her hips.

"I just told you he jammed them." He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Just do it. We don't have all night."

Peter huffed but did as she said. He aimed for the tree and shot out his webbing, which hit his mark. "Whoa! How did- but- I swear they were jammed," he said as he studied them.

"Mysterio just made the illusion that they weren't working. Now that you're out of his influence, they're working all right." She smiled and tugged his arm. "Let's go, we're running late now."

He could have hit himself after that. They walked in silence for a few minutes before she stopped him. They were in an empty field, with trees surrounding them.

"Alright, Parker, you stay here. Take cover in the tree line on the edge of the field. I'm going to the next field over, where Flash and Violet are. If Andrew comes, then great, our plan worked. If not, then I guess we'll let Violet know and wrap this whole thing up."

Peter nodded to her, wanting to hurry up with this whole thing. He wanted his son home, but he didn't want his daughter to have to go through this to get him back.

* * *

"Let me go!" Violet yelled again against the coarse fabric covering her face. "Once my Dad sees that I'm missing, he'll come and find me. You'll be sorry," she added for good measure.

"We'll see about that," the man who had taken her from her home replied.

Her nails pressed against the rope that bound her hands. She was trying to cut through the rope. Her legs were starting to go numb as she had been sitting cross-legged in the dirt since she had been taken here. She heard him cock his gun several feet from her and she gulped.

"What are you doing? Why did you take me?" she asked as she kept trying to cut through the rope.

The man made an amused laughing sound. "What do you think kid? Revenge. Isn't it always about revenge nowadays? I paid a friend of mine to take care of the spider, and to ensure that nobody comes after me in the future, I have to take care of his family as well."

Violet didn't say anything at that. She was sure her father was okay. He could definitely hold his own. As for Andrew, she wasn't even sure if this man knew about him or not. Maybe he didn't know Spider-Man also had a son, with Andrew not being home and all.

Violet swiftly shifted her head towards the sound of approaching footsteps.

"Ah, here's my source now," the man said, yanking the piece of cloth from her face.

"Why isn't the girl dead yet?" she heard a woman say, and when he eyes finally focused on the figure walking towards them—

"Felicia!?" she shouted, betrayal evident in her voice.

"Great job, you remembered my name," she scoffed and then turned towards the man. "Do you have my money or not?" She held her hand out towards him.

"Did you take care of Spider-Man?"

"Of course," she sniffed at him. "It took a while to gain his trust, but I was finally able to take care of him. Where's my money?" she repeated.

Violet felt her stomach drop. "Where's my Dad? What do you mean you took care of him?" she shouted, not caring about the tears brimming over her eyes.

"He's dead, sweetie. You will soon be, too." Felicia took the money from the man. "It was fun and all kid, but there is no way in hell I'd actually continue staying there." She then turned her head towards the man again. "Do it."

The feeling of the gun against her head sent shivers up her spine. How could Felicia do this to her? To her family?

"Any last words kid?" the man said to her.

Everything seemed to go silent. Violet held in the urge to scream, to beg the man not to do it. She held her breath when suddenly the man yelled in pain next to her.

"Yeah, stay the fuck away from my sister."

She looked up quickly, the man had dropped the gun and there was a black arrow sticking straight through his hand, he had it clasped against his chest in pain.

"Andrew?" Violet yelled up to the figure that was hovering in the air, approximately sixty feet away.

Not even another second passed and the man next to her fell to the ground, another black arrow sticking straight through his chest.

"I'm here," her brother confirmed.

"Shit. shit. Parker!" Felicia yelled and then turned her head quickly to her. "Violet, we did this to get Andrew here. Your Dad is safe, he's here too, he's—" Felicia was cut off as an arrow sped towards her, she jumped back, missing it by only several inches.

"Andrew, stop! Wait!" Violet protested, but soon another arrow came soaring at Felicia. Violet stuck out her wrist and quickly flung the arrow aside with her webbing.

Andrew flew in suddenly, fairly quickly. "What are you doing!?" he hissed at her. "She handed you over to this man and you think she should just get away with it?"

Violet finally had a good look at her brother in the weeks he had been missing. Someone had provided him with what looked like a military grade hoverboard and another black plated suit, similar to what she saw the goblin wearing.

"I- I..." she faltered on her words.

He just shook his head at her. "I'll deal with it," he said as he lifted his bow once more, aiming it at Felicia.

* * *

Peter saw it happen, but couldn't believe it. His son had shot the arrow at Flash, most likely killing him. He stared at the scene unfolding before him in awe, before his name was being called by Felicia.

He bolted to the field. Andrew fired a bow at her, but missed, not by much. What if he got there too late?

Another shot. This time Violet stopped him. He was halfway there now and he thought his son would notice him but he was too occupied attempting to shoot Felicia. The hoverboard he was riding flew in about thirty feet. He was so close to Violet now. The bow was raised _again_...

"Andrew!" he called. His son turned his head a fraction of an inch at the sound, which was just enough in order for Felicia to dodge the arrow that was fired at her. "Andrew, wait, please."

"You're alive?" His son scrunched his eyebrows together in confusion. "I thought I just heard from her—" he pointed at Felicia, "—that you were dead."

Peter shook his head. "No. Just- listen to me before you take off. Please." He again put his hands out, showing he wasn't going to try anything. "Let me just- let me check on him, I need to see if he's still alive." He gestured to Flash.

"He's not. I shot him in the heart," Andrew said, voice uneven. "What is this?"

Peter sighed, staring at Flash. "We... we wanted you back, Andrew. I needed to tell you something. Just hear me out. Please, son."

"Did you set me up tonight?"

Peter quickly shifted his eyes to Felicia and back to Andrew within a half a second.

"Don't look at it like that." Peter took a step towards him.

"And you." He turned towards Violet. "You were in on this?"

"It- it was my idea to begin with, but—"

"Are you _fucking_ kidding me!?" Andrew growled at them. The intensity of it was unnerving, and Peter saw that even Felicia took a step back. There was something instantly different about his son, but he couldn't quite put a finger on it yet. "I just killed a man because of your 'idea.' I just risked a lot to come here, and it's all a set up. Let me just tell you guys that you did this all for nothing." He gritted his teeth.

That's when Peter noticed the difference. He could have been blind for not noticing it before. Where his son's usual warm brown eyes stood, they were suddenly blue. The sun was starting to set, but his eyes weren't capturing the light, they were defying it, his eyes so blue they were literally glowing.

Peter's head was pounding as he stared into his son's eyes. There was a coldness to them, but they weren't absent of humanity, as Harry's seemed to be. The corner of Andrew's mouth twitched, almost smirking, as he narrowed his eyes at Peter. The pounding in his head intensified, but was suddenly cut off as Andrew glared at a figure behind him.

"It wasn't _all_ for nothing, Andrew," a voice drawled from behind them. Speak of the devil, Peter thought, as Harry nonchalantly walked up to their little group in the field.

"What did you do to him?" Peter growled out at Harry, angrily walking towards him. Felicia tugged back on his arm and it took all he had not to shove her off.

"Parker, stop." she firmly whispered to him.

"Felicia." Harry grinned at her. "Good to see you again. Does she know you're here?" he raised an eyebrow at her and glared at Peter. "And with him?"

"No. I'm hoping you'll keep it that way." Peter noticed Felicia had slightly positioned her body in front of him. "What do you want, Harry?"

Harry placed a hand under his chin, looking around at the scene in front of him.

"For one, I'm going to be taking my little apprentice back with me-"

"The hell you are!" Peter stepped forward again but was shoved back by Felicia.

"I don't have the taser on me right now," she whispered to him. "Try to keep it calm. I'll do whatever I have to in order to control this, but you need to _calm down_."

Peter looked back towards Harry who was grinning at them, the sunset bouncing colors off of his sharpened teeth.

"I could skip the second thing I need to do, which is to try convincing you to surrender to us and come with us to meet Styrker. I mean, it would be what's best for all of you." He smirked. "If you don't comply then I get to kill the remaining Parkers, and Felicia will be the only one to come back with us. Pick the right choice. You were always the smart one, Parker."

"Being stripped of your free will is not what's best for anyone, Harry," Felicia said gently. "Just, take a minute to talk to me, okay?"

Peter watched Harry's eyes dance around the people in the field. Violet was standing as still as possible next to the now deceased Flash Thompson. Andrew was hovering in the air, near Violet. But what Harry's eyes landed on was Peter's chest. He looked down and instantly was aware of Felicia's hand still on his chest, holding him back.

"I don't want to talk with a traitor like you," he snarled at her. "We were supposed to capture him!" He pointed at Peter. "And here you are, protecting him."

"Harry, you are being controlled. That chip in your head controls you. I'm holding him back because I don't want anything to happen to you. I know you don't want to do this, any of this. I took the chip out, Harry, I'm free. You could be free too—"

"Enough!" he yelled, causing Felicia to jump. "Parker, what is your choice? Come back with us and have your _whole_ family reunited again, or resist us and I get to kill you. Honestly, I'd prefer it if you resisted." He smirked again.

"Parker, start to back up, very slowly," she whispered to him again. He wasn't exactly sure what her plan was, but he obliged. For every step he took back, she followed suit, keeping her body positioned in front of him still. Peter took a glance at his daughter, who's eyes were locked on her brother.

Harry began to walk forward a few steps as they walked back towards Violet. Peter swore he heard Felicia say whisper "yes" under her breathe.

"You're running out of time here, Parker. She's going to be here soon and I can guarantee you she'll want to take Violet back with us. You on the other hand are highly disposable."

"You alerted her?" Felicia nearly shouted.

"Of course I did. She's my partner in this. She'll be very happy to see you here, Felicia. She gets to go home once you're captured," he stated.

"A few more steps." Felicia whispered to him again. Peter wasn't too sure what she was planning, but—

"ARGGGHHH!" Peter stopped instantly as Harry's body suddenly went rigid and he saw bolts of electricity shoot away from his body.

"What the- Harry!?" He ran up to the unmoving body on the ground.

"He'll be fine." Felicia ran up behind him. "I just need to—"

"What did you do to him!?" Andrew jumped off the glider and headed towards them.

"I incapacitated him for now," Felicia said as she grabbed a pair of handcuffs from her bag and cuffed Harry's hands behind him. "The electricity causes the chip to short circuit and you pass out. I'd stay away from this plate, otherwise you're next." She glared at Andrew. Peter suddenly saw that Felicia was avoiding an area on the ground, and sure enough there was a small grey plate on the ground that she must have planet for Harry to step on.

"That would be true, if I had one of those implanted in me."

Peter turned and saw Andrew had an arrow lined up, ready to shoot Felicia.

"No!" he yelled, flinging himself at the bow. Andrew let go and the arrow shot out, straight through Peter's arm. "Goddammit!" Peter swore and ripped the bow away from his son. Felicia began to heave the unconscious body of Harry away from the electricity plate.

"Give me my bow back, right now." He glared at his father.

"No," he said firmly. "What the hell is wrong with you, Andrew? What are—" Suddenly the headache was back and Peter found himself on his knees, dropping the bow. The pressure was excruciating and it felt like all the blood vessels in his head were going to explode. "Andrew...stop—"

The pain abruptly stopped and he heard the buzz of the electricity plate.

"I'm sorry, Dad. I h-had to," Violet said as she pulled Andrew off the plate. Peter instantly jumped to his feet and over to his children.

"Andrew? Andrew!" Peter checked his son's pulse and was relieved to find he was still alive. He looked up and Felicia was staring at at, mouth slightly open, her arms still locked under Harry's, trying to drag him back towards the car.

"The plate was meant for Harry, the chip is wired to have electricity flow straight to it to render them unconscious. Andrew doesn't have a chip so he got the full blow," she said quickly.

"Shit," Peter swore and looked at the arrow in his arm. He ripped it out and began performing CPR on his son. "Come on, Andrew!"

"I need to get out of this field, now. Before she comes!" Felicia yelled to him. She already seemed out of breathe from trying to get Harry out of the field.

He was about to tell her to get lost. That he couldn't care less what happened to her when his son was laying her unconscious. But even he knew that wasn't true anymore.

"Pick up Andrew. I'll get Harry. Violet, follow us," he commanded. Violet and Felicia followed his orders. He could see why Felicia was having trouble with Harry, his armor was pretty heavy, but it wasn't such a big deal for him.

The run from the field to Bobby's building was a blur to him. They got Harry in the back seat, laying down while Felicia sat with his head in her lap. Violet sat in the front seat with Andrew in the same position.

"Where are we going?" Violet asked as Peter sped out of the driveway.

"Hospital," he said, staring forward.

"Violet, can you reach my bag? It's on the floor in the front seat," Felicia said. She nodded and passed her bag to the back.

"What are you going to tell them?" Violet asked him.

"Struck by lightning. Something. I don't know yet, Vi."

Peter whipped his head back quickly as he heard Harry make a small groan in his sleep. Harry's eyes were closed still, but he was starting to twitch.

"What are we doing with him? When he wakes up in here he's going to set the car on fire or something," Peter said, focusing back on the road.

"That won't be a problem much longer," Felicia answered.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm so sorry, Harry," he heard Felicia say. He looked back to see she was holding a knife up to the side of his head.

"Felicia! You're not about—"

He was cut off by Harry's sudden intake of air.

"Shhh, Harry, it'll be fine." she brushed his hair away from the cut she was making. "If you can hear me, we're almost done. I'm sorry, I know you can feel this."

"Don't look back there, Vi." Peter said to Violet. She nodded and looked down at her brother.

"There. Got it!" Felicia laughed and rolled down the window, tossing the bloodied chip out with it. "Harry," she called his name. "Shit, Parker."

"What? What's wrong?" he said, pulling into the hospital.

"He's losing too much blood. Fuck. What do I do? Fuck!"

"We're at a hospital. We'll bring him in too. Take off Harry's suit, quickly," he said solemnly as he pulled into the parking lot.

"Why aren't you at the emergency pull up entrance!?" she shouted, but began taking the suit off.

"Need to change really quick." he got out of the car and pulled off his hoodie and pants revealing his Spider-Man outfit underneath. "I'll bring both of them in. That way I can drop them off, no questions asked. After I bring them both in, you drive Violet home. I'll meet you there shortly." he picked Andrew up and headed towards the building.

Felicia nodded as she got the last pieces of Harry's suit off, Peter had already brought Andrew inside. "You'll be okay. I'm sorry, I had to do this." She brushed more hair out of his face, not caring about the blood that coated her hand.

"Okay, I need him. Drive her home okay?" Peter said to Felicia as he pulled the door open. She nodded but didn't move. "Felicia?"

"Sorry, I just- okay." She got out of the car and went into the driver's seat as Peter took Harry towards the hospital.

Some of the staff were already waiting for Peter at the entrance with a stretcher ready. He laid Harry on top of the stretcher and they brought him straight into the building.

"Don't worry, buddy. We'll be back," he promised as he swung away before anyone there could ask him and questions.

He got his son back. He got Harry back. Despite what had happened today, he allowed himself a small smile on his face.


	12. Chapter 12

"Violet?" Peter called as he walked into his home. He was supposed to come straight home from the hospital, but he had to stop a guy from mugging some lady behind Jude's Bar.

"She's asleep." He turned his head towards the sound of the voice. Felicia was standing in his kitchen, arms crossed, with a scowl on her face. "Where were you?"

"I had to stop a person from getting mugged," he replied, confusion evident on his face. "Thanks for bringing her home." he nodded towards the stairs.

Felicia just shook her head and walked towards the front door. "I need to see Harry. I can't believe we just dropped him off there and left. He's going to wake up and be so confused and-"

"Felicia, wait." Peter grabbed her arm. She glared at him. "The hospital hasn't notified us yet. I haven't even gotten a call yet about Andrew. Once they call us, we can go, otherwise they'll know we had something to do with what happened," he tried to reason with her.

"I don't fucking care," she threw her hands up in the air. "He needs me. I just- I just left him after cutting his head open, and now- now—"

Peter noticed her body was shaking slightly. Whether it was from shock or anger, he didn't know, but he took her by the hand and helped her sit on the couch in the living room. It was uncomfortable for him to see her in this sort of state.

"They'll call us soon. I know they will. They'll recognize Andrew from the posters, and then we can go see Harry as well," said Peter. Felicia still seemed unconvinced. "I promise, if they don't call us within the hour, we can go check on them."

She nodded reluctantly.

"Do you want anything? Some water or-" he began.

"Whiskey," she replied quickly.

He smiled at that. It brought back memories from one of the first times he drank, which was with Harry. They hadn't been on good terms yet, but Harry had still helped him out when he needed it. Between the two of them they finished off a bottle and a half of Jack Daniels.

"Sure, you want a Jack and Coke?" he asked, moving towards the kitchen.

"Just Jack, Parker."

He nodded to himself and got out two glasses and brought the bottle over to the living room.

"Didn't really expect you to have anything. Didn't take you for a drinker," she said as she snatched the bottle from him and filled up her glass, downing it quickly.

"I don't drink much. I need to be alert in case anything happens. After tonight though, I definitely need a glass," he said as he took the bottle back from her.

"Just so you know, Violet is fine. That girl is tough. I told her you'd talk to her more in the morning, she seemed exhausted after today," she poured herself another glass. "I just hope that Harry and Andrew are fine."

"They will be." he replied. "They're both strong. I'm sure after everything Harry has gone through, this will be nothing." he smiled at her.

Peter leaned back on the couch, sipping his whiskey. He wasn't sure when the hospital would call, but surely they would recognize who Andrew was with nearly every poster in the city lined with his face.

He unconsciously let out a sigh. His son had been through so much today. All he wanted to do was talk to him, apologize. Instead he had landed him in the hospital. How was he going to make things right between them?

"Like you said, Parker, they'll be- holy shit," she swore loudly.

"What?" he jumped forward suddenly, her voice startling him.

She pointed at his arm. "Your arm is bleeding. How did I not notice that before-" she got up from the couch. "Well get up, you're getting blood all over the place!" she sniffed at him.

"Okay, okay." he got up and moved towards the bathroom. "Honestly I forgot all about this. Andrew had shot me with the arrow and I just pulled it out. How the hell did that kid learn to do that so fast?" He shook his head, talking more to himself than anything.

Felicia followed him to the bathroom, gulping down her glass beforehand.

"Here, sit." She sat him down on the top of the toilet, a little too hard. "Be right back."

She came back a moment later with some hand towels, rubbing alcohol, gauze, tape, and a new shirt.

"Thanks." Peter said, holding his good arm out for the supplies, but she scoffed at him again. "What?" he scrunched his face at her.

"Take your shirt off."

"What?" he asked again in astonishment.

"Take. Off. Your. Shirt. Parker." she shook her head. "I mean seriously, how am I supposed to clean your wound with your shirt hanging over it?"

He scoffed but listened to her. "I can do this myself you know. I've done it before."

"Don't be such a child. I've got this, no problem." she began disinfecting the puncture wound on his upper arm, wiping the blood away as it slowly swept out.

Peter once again found himself focusing on Felicia's eyes. Despite her sometimes bitter personality, her eyes were warm. She had a slightly worried look on her face, but he knew it was because Harry was in the hospital.

"I'm not even stitching this up since you should be healed in a couple hours anyways. I'll just wrap some gauze tightly around it so you won't bleed through your clothes again."

He nodded to her, glancing at his arm. "Thanks, Felicia."

"Like I said, no problem." she smirked at him. "We don't need you bleeding all over the furniture."

Suddenly his phone began to ring, and Peter was instantly up, answering the phone before it even got to a second ring.

"Hello?" he said into his cell phone, trying to cover the worry in his voice.

"Hello. This is Doctor Harvelle. May I please speak to Mr. Peter Parker?"

Peter shut his eyes and let out a quiet sigh of relief. They were calling him, much quicker than he had thought too.

"Yes, this is him speaking," he replied, opening his eyes again.

"I think we may have your son."

* * *

Peter and Felicia were out the door within two minutes of the phone call. They got to the hospital as quickly as they could, only to find that there were several police cars parked near one of the entrances. There was smoke coming out of the east side of the building, and more police officers were arriving to the scene.

"What do you think happened?" Peter asked, parking the car in the parking lot.

"Who do we know that can conjure up fire, Parker?" she asked as she was getting out of the car.

"Wait," Peter called, jumping out of the car. He quickly took his shirt and pants off, tossing them back into the car, revealing his Spider-Man outfit on underneath. "Go find Andrew. Bring him to the car. I'll get Harry." he pulled the mask on over his head.

Peter swung close to the building as Felicia stealthily rushed inside, passed the blockade.

"Come out with your hands up! This place is completely surrounded!" An officer yelled through the megaphone. "If you do not comply, we will use- Spider-Man!" the officer shouted in relief as Peter dropped down next to him.

"What's going on in there?" Peter nodded to the building. "Anyone hurt?"

The officer shook his head. "Nobody that we know of is hurt. There are some people trapped in the rooms next to that one-" the officer pointed to the side of the hospital where a huge hole in the wall was blown out, edges still smoldering. "We think it's the man, the man in black who has been harming all those people."

Peter slowly nodded. "Don't worry officer, I know how to handle this." Peter swung up to the building, landing next to the hole on the side.

"Harry?" he called quietly. He did not want anybody knowing who he was. Every police officer on the ground had their sights on the open hole in the wall, but they were too far away to actually hear anything that wasn't a yell. He wasn't sure exactly how he was going to pull this off, but he sure as hell wasn't going to fail him again.

No answer. Peter slowly peeked around the corner into the building, but had to suddenly whip his head back, narrowly avoiding the fireball launched at him.

He watched the ball of fire hit the parking lot, thankfully not hitting anything. The officers were getting restless and he knew he was going to have to hurry up.

"It's me, Har," he called out again. "I'm not going to hurt you. Please, trust me." Peter clung onto the building, back against the wall. Still no answer. It sounded as if someone had bumped into something, as he heard several things fall onto the ground.

"Harry!" he hissed, not expecting a reply.

"What!? What do you want!?" he heard Harry yell, half crazed.

Peter inwardly sighed finally getting a response. Would his former friend be himself still, or did he still want to harm him?

"Let me come in there. Away from all these people out here," he reasoned with him. "I'm not going to try anything, unless you try shooting me with another one of those fireballs."

Peter waited for a reply, he didn't want to risk anything. Finally, after what seemed like forever, he heard Harry practically whisper, "Okay."

He peeked around the corner, Harry was up against the door, looking as if he was going to run out of the room any second. Peter jumped into the room, making sure Harry was able to see both of his hands at all times.

Although he didn't look good, Peter could definitely tell the difference between this Harry, and the one that was in the field. His eyes darted around the room, and his breathing was faster than it should be.

"Harry-" he began, "what do you remember?"

Harry's eyes focused on Peter, and he saw so many different emotions flicker across his face all at once. Pain, guilt, hope, confusion, fear...

"Why are you here, Peter?" he asked quietly, keeping his eyes locked on Peter.

So at least he knew who he was. That was a start.

"I'm getting you out of here, buddy. Right now there are like twenty officers who want your-" he paused. "What do you remember, Harry?" he asked again.

Harry's voice shook as he answered him, "I remember everything."


	13. Chapter 13

"I remember everything."

Harry's words echoed through Peter's head. No wonder he looked so guilty.

The edge of the room they were in was on fire, nothing that couldn't be handled, but if they were in here much longer it could escalate pretty quickly.

"We can talk about all of this soon, Har. Let's get you out of here first, okay?"

Peter turned around and glanced outside. Another police cruiser was pulling up. Harry took a few steps towards Peter. He assumed he wanted to see what was going on outside.

"Yeah, they're uh... they're not too happy with you right now." he nodded towards the hole in the wall.

"I killed those people before..." Harry whispered. "There've been so many people..." he trailed off. "And then you, Peter! I tried to kill you _again_! After everything!"

Peter stepped towards him, allowing only several feet of space between them. The tortured look in Harry's eyes was too much for Peter to handle right now, Harry didn't deserve anything that was happening to him.

"None of that matters right now. I'm getting you out of here. Listen, there are some people in the room next to us, I'm going to lead them out of here. You're going to blend in near the back of the crowd, got it?" He could hear several people shouting for help in the next room. It wasn't the best plan, but they didn't have much time.

Harry's eyes darted between Peter and the hole in the wall. "I don't know- I think I can make it my- ah, what the hell." He put his hand up to his head, his fingers scraped against the staples on his skin. "That's right... Felicia cut me open... I remember that. Where is she?" he dropped his hand.

"She's safe. Listen, focus Harry. After I get the group of people out of the building, there will be a lot of commotion. My vehicle is here, and after I speak with the police, I will come find you, and we'll go to my house, okay?"

Harry closed his eyes and nodded his head, his fingers were digging into his palms. When his eyes reopened, the guilt was back.

"Listen, Peter-"

"No," he said firmly. "We get you out first. Then we talk." With that, Peter opened up the room without letting Harry say another word.

The door to the room next to them was jammed shut. A stretcher was in the hallway, and it looked like it had been thrown against the door. The smoldering wall was filling the room with smoke.

"I'm going to break down the door. Stand back!" he commanded. He waited a moment. Peter easily knocked the door down, and surveyed the room; there were seven people inside.

"Oh thank goodness!" a short lady with blonde hair yelled. "My family and I were visiting my niece, she broke her leg, and we got locked in this room!" She coughed.

Peter looked at the little girl on the hospital bed. She had a cast on her leg and looked pretty frightened.

"Okay, I'm going to carry her out of the building. Everyone, follow me!" he called to them as he picked up the girl. "What's your name?" he asked the girl who looked to be about Violet's age.

"Veronica," she answered, burrowing her face into his shoulder.

"Don't worry, Veronica. I'm going to get you and your family out of here."

"But what about that man? Did the police get him?" the woman frantically yelled, pulling at Peter's arm.

"He's gone," he said in a clipped tone. "We need to get you out of here."

He made sure not to run too quickly so that the others would be able to keep up with him. With a quick glance, he noticed a few other stragglers and Harry had joined them in the back of the group. The entire time all he could think of was what he was going to do if anybody recognized him.

Paramedics were waiting right outside the doors, and Peter handed over the girl in his arms, quickly heading over to the Police Chief, who had just arrived.

"Spider-Man! Did you get the man responsible for this?" Captain Winchester asked. The man had an expectant look in his eyes, clearly expecting good news.

"No, I uh- I had to get the hostages out and he bolted. There was nothing I could do," he finished weakly.

"You- he- got away..." Captain Winchester's mouth hung slightly open, giving Peter a disbelieving look. He shut his mouth, opened it again, and then shut it, shaking his head and walking away towards the other officers. Two firetrucks were starting to pull into the parking lot.

"Wow, all he he to add was 'I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed' and we would have had a classic cliche moment," he muttered to himself.

With his vehicle in sight, he sprinted over to it, making sure the police were still focused on the building and helping out anyone in need. He ripped off the mask and pulled on his clothes and hoodie over his head.

"Dammit, where are you, Felicia?" he whispered to himself. With no time to lose, he ran over to Harry, who was walking away from the building.

"Hey, Har, over here," Peter called to him. Harry stopped and turned to him, and Peter once again thought he was going to flee, and was surprised that he actually started walking towards him.

Peter jumped in the driver's seat as Harry jumped in the passenger's. His phone buzzed, and he quickly took it out, hoping it was Felicia.

 **"Go home. I'll meet you there. Good news and bad news concerning Andrew. He's safe, but I'm not leaving just yet. I'll explain later. -F"**

He quickly contemplated going to look for her, but he trusted what she had to say. Within minutes, they were already nearing his home.

Harry kept switching between itching the staples on his head and nervously bouncing his leg.

"Whatever it is, just let it out," Peter said.

Harry's leg stopped shaking immediately. "Where are we going?" he asked suspiciously, not looking at Peter, but rather straight ahead.

"My house." Peter scrunched his face in confusion.

"Are you sure you want me there?" he said quickly.

Peter didn't even have to think twice about it. "Of course I do. We have a lot to catch up on."

"We do..." Harry whispered.

Peter stole a glance at his friend. His eyes were slightly pulled in a way that made it seem like he was in pain. It made sense; being electrocuted and having your head cut open weren't exactly pleasant.

"Well, we're here." Peter pulled into his driveway.

"You moved," Harry noted.

Peter rubbed the back of his neck absentmindedly. "Yeah, uh, come on in." he gestured. Harry seemed much more at ease away from the hospital and the police officers, and Peter hoped it wasn't because of him that he looked so nervous.

He opened up the door and let Harry inside. A small smile appeared on Peter's face as he watched Harry curiously check out his home. Suddenly Harry turned around and Peter tensed his body as a natural reflex. Harry wrapped his arms around Peter's shoulders, and he found himself caught up in a desperate hug from the older man. He managed to pull one of his arms free and gave his friend a pat on the back, in which Harry quickly let go.

"Um-" Peter cleared his throat. "Wait on the couch, I need to let my daughter know I'm home."

Harry nodded and awkwardly sat down on the couch.

"I'll be back in a minute." Peter walked up the stairs.

Violet's door opened before he could even knock.

"Is he okay!?" she nearly shouted at him.

"Oh, uh-" Crap. He should have talked to Felicia and found out what happened before he came to talk to Violet. "Felicia said that he is okay, but I'm not exactly sure what's going on. When I got there, there was-"

"Let me guess, a disturbance?" she accusingly stared at him.

"Yes, and-" there was a small thud from downstairs, followed by a sheepish 'sorry!'

"Who is that?" Violet began to walk towards the stairs. Peter grabbed her arm before she took one step down.

"Just, hold on," he said, placing himself between the stairs and his daughter. "Let me explain something first."

"Explain what?" she said, attempting to peer around him.

Peter sighed and hoped it wouldn't go downhill from here. He was just going to come right out and say it.

"Harry Osborn woke up in the hospital. It worked, Felicia taking the chip out of his head, that is. It- it took him out of that 'Spider-Man needs to die' mode he was in." He huffed a laugh.

"Okay..." she raised an eyebrow at him.

"He's sitting on our couch downstairs right now."

"And Andrew isn't." There it was. That accusing look that hurt him more than any bullet wound could do.

"You have a murderer in our house. He tried to kill us, Dad!" she shook her head at him. "Where's my brother!?"

"Felicia will inform me of what's-"

"You should know! You're our dad!" she cried, "Just... let me know when you find out how he is." She turned around and walked into her bedroom, slamming the door shut behind her.

Peter sighed and grabbed some extra clothes from his dresser. His phone started to buzz again. **"Be there in 15. -F"**

He didn't reply, but pocketed his phone, and walked downstairs. Did he do the right thing? He trusted that Felicia knew what she was doing. At the time, he wasn't sure if Harry was stable enough to be around her, and he didn't want to risk her safety.

He mindlessly walked back into the living room, not even noticing Harry was standing up, scratching at his arm.

"I should go," he said, looking towards the door. He looked extremely uncomfortable. "This was a mistake."

"No, no. Just-" Peter looked back towards the stairs and back at him again. "Here. I got some extra clothes for you," he said, looking at the hospital attire he was in. "Bathroom is that way." he pointed.

Harry just nodded and walked into the bathroom. Peter sat down on the couch opposite from the one Harry had been seated on.

A moment later, Harry emerged from the bathroom, wearing one of Peter's old hoodies.

Peter held in a laugh as he watched Harry anxiously pull at the too-long hoodie.

"I know, I know. I look ridiculous." Harry looked up at him and, even though it was only for a second, cracked a smile.

"Sit down, Harry." He nodded towards the couch in front of him. Harry looked resignedly at the couch and sat down.

"Now," Harry began slowly, "I know you want to know it all. You deserve that much. I'll tell you as much as I can right now, but I'm..." his nails were digging into his palm again, "...I just need to rest, you know?"

"Of course," Peter replied.

Harry gave a small humorless laugh. "Ah, where to begin." he leaned back.

"I'd prefer the beginning."

Harry nodded seriously to him.

"The beginning." he shook his head. "Well, as you remember, that piece of shit Venom killed me." he sniffed. "Sorry, I still haven't gotten over that."

"Yeah, I- I remember." that was one of the hardest days of his life. That, and of course, losing his fiancee Mary Jane.

"Well, I 'woke up' to bright lights." Harry paused to gauge his reaction. "But instead of peace and clouds and all that, I found myself in an operating room. I remember thinking that, somehow, I had been saved. That you had gotten me to a hospital, something. Wishful thinking, maybe. I should have known I would have never deserved that after everything that I've done. One of the men told me they had restarted my heart with some kind of medicine their lab had cooked up. I asked for you. I needed to make sure you were safe." Harry was wringing his hands together.

"Next thing I knew, I was in terrible pain. I had no idea what they were doing to me. They wouldn't stop." Peter knew he was editing out a lot, whether it was for his or Harry's benefit, he didn't know. "I was thrown into a cell that night. Cells were lined up in this room. There were several other people in some of the cells, but each of us had our own. They put me right next to _her-_ " Harry's eyes, previously focused on the ground, darted up to Peter's so fast he thought something was wrong, but Harry continued. "-Sorry, I didn't mean anything by it." he shook his head. Peter slightly shrugged; he knew he was talking about Scarlet, and wondered why he would have anything to apologize about concerning her.

"Over the next _year_ they tortured us. Experimented on us. Changed us. Anytime we asked questions, it just got worse. It wasn't until after that year that I finally met Stryker. He told me I could stop all the pain by surrendering myself to him." Harry chuckled as if remembering something funny. "Let's just say he didn't like my answer. He ended up with a broken arm and his men tortured me for another month before I got to see him again. _She_ was there with me the second time they asked. This time, they said they would torture her in front of me until I said yes." Harry looked at Peter, worry crossing his features. "I didn't let that happen though." He seemed to be reassuring him. "I surrendered before anything more happened to her."

Harry sighed and shook his head. "She surrendered, too, that night. Didn't want me to be alone, I think. She has... a good heart," he said in a strangled tone.

"That's when you had the chip implanted in your head I assume?" Peter asked. Harry had been quiet after that, and, hoping he wasn't pushing him too far, he wanted to know.

"Yeah. The years flew by after that. Missions, recruitments. Most of the new recruits ended up dead. He seemed to like her and I the most. The worst part of my time there wasn't the torture though." Harry looked up at Peter again. "It was what they had hardwired into my brain." his face scrunched up in agony.

"What do you mean?" Peter questioned, barely above a whisper.

"They- they made me hate you, Peter. When that chip was activated in my head, it was all I could think of. I mean sure, I could focus on everything I was doing with ease, but you were always in the back of my mind. Stryker promised me I could have my revenge against you..." he trailed off again. "But, the chip is out. That's what matters right now. It's just that-" something shifted in Harry's eyes and, just for a fraction of a second, that cold deadly look stared back at Peter, "I think having that chip activated in my head for so long permanently changed something inside of me, Pete. I think that I can control it. But, even now, I'm working to not go over there and rip your head off... with my teeth."

Peter uncomfortably shifted on the couch. "I know you won't hurt me, Harry," he assured his friend.

"Well, you always were the optimist." Harry grinned, and Peter without thinking caught himself staring at the teeth that were obviously sharpened. Harry noticed and quickly shut his mouth. "Anyways, you'll never guess who showed up years after that. Well, I guess you already know, about Felicia that is. I'm sure she's told you her story?" Harry questioned him.

"Yeah, I'm pretty well informed."

Harry nodded and looked back down at the ground. It was several minutes before he spoke again. "I'm so sorry, Peter. I don't deserve this. I don't deserve a friend like you."

"Harry, listen to me. Because I'm only going to say this once. Got it? You. Have. Nothing. To. Be. Sorry. For." Harry began shaking his head in disagreement, "No. I mean it. I know you wanted none of it. I know they made you kill people, Harry. You never wanted to hurt people."

"I hurt people before I went to that island, Peter. I killed people. Maybe I deserved what happened to me there."

"Stop!" Peter raised his voice. "I know you've been through a lot, but you'll get past this. I'm not sure what we're gong to do from here, but we will all make it through this. One day at a time. Felicia will help too. She's staying here actually, for the time being. She's in my room, while I have this couch." Peter gestured to the couch he was sitting on. "Are- are you two..?" he trailed off.

Harry instantly understood what he meant. "No. She's one of the few people I actually care about, but that's all."

Peter didn't ask further. "I see. Well then, you can crash on that couch for the night. We'll figure out something tomorrow. We need to get rid of Scarlet, once we do, you, Felicia, and my children will be safe."

Harry's brow furrowed at this. "Get rid of?"

"Well if we can, we'll try to get her chip out like we did with you. But, if it comes down to it, I'll do whatever it takes to make sure the people I care about are safe."

Peter couldn't make sense of Harry's puzzled expression. Then, all of a sudden, Harry seemed to snap out of his confussion and understanding crossed his face.

"You don't know," he said simply.

"Know what, Har?"

"Felicia... she didn't tell you?" he laughed and shook his head.

"Tell me wha-" Peter began, but the front door opened.

"Harry!" Felicia exclaimed as she burst through the front door. Harry stood up and Peter saw that he looked upset at the sight of Felicia, but she didn't seem to even notice.

"Felicia." he greeted her. She wrapped her arms around him and he put an arm around her. She pulled her face up to his, planting a kiss on his cheek, and he pulled away just enough for her to notice.

"Harry?" she looked at him in obvious confusion.

"I just- I need to go- lay down or something." Harry looked around for an exit. "I'll just... go..."

"Wait, Harry, stay." Felicia grabbed his arm. She looked into his eyes and they seemed to have a silent conversation, and it ended with Felicia shaking her head a fraction. "I've been using Peter's room, just, please don't go. Sleep in there tonight, I have something to take care of anyways," she pleaded.

"Yeah, Har. It's no problem, stay. We can talk in the morning." Talk about what the hell that was all just about.

He looked like he was going to argue, but he seemed to be so worn out from today's events that he finally agreed. Felicia showed him the room and came downstairs within the next couple of minutes.

"You got him back, Peter." he was surprised when Felicia strode over to him and wrapped her arms around him this time. He didn't comment on the tears in her eyes. "I owe you... so much for this."

"I didn't just do it for you, you know." he joked to ease the tension. She let go of him and rolled her eyes, in a friendly way.

What had Harry been talking about? He wondered briefly if he should bring it up to Felicia, but there were more important things to talk about first.

"Now, about Andrew." she pulled Peter over to the couch and sat him down. "I spoke with one of the doctors, telling them that I was staying with you and you were unable to get there at that time. Andrew was in another part of the hospital, so he wasn't anywhere near the fire that happened. The doctor said that he was stable, but..."

"But what?" he interrupted.

"He's in a coma, Peter."

Peter stared at her. "That's... that's impossible. What if he never wakes up? What if-"

Her hand was resting on his arm in a second. "Parker. Peter. He'll be okay. I promise."

"You don't know that." he argued.

"This is his body's way of fighting the trauma of what happened. With his healing powers, I'm sure this will last a couple days, tops." she assured him.

She had a point. His healing factor was superior to Peter's even.

"I should go check on Harry. See how he's doing." Felicia stood up.

Peter wasn't sure why, but he had a feeling that it would be a very bad idea if she was alone with him right now. She might talk Harry out of what he was just about to tell him.

"Wait, Felicia." he stood up too. "I don't think he should be alone with you right now. The chip is out of his head and everything, but you shouldn't be alone with him just yet."

She chewed on her bottom lip and stared at the stairs.

"Plus, he seemed to be upset with you for some reason." Peter watched her face, to see if there was anything she was hiding. She instantly looked at the floor when he said that, confirming what he thought.

"Maybe I'll see him later, after he's rested for the night." she nodded to herself and then looked back up at him. "You up for a quick ride?"

"Where to?" he asked dubiously.

"I need to get some personal things of Harry's."

"Personal things of Harry's?" he repeated.

"Yup."

"Where would these items be, Felicia?"

She paused for a moment before answering. "Back at the Black Heart Bunker."


	14. Chapter 14

"I can't believe you're actually making me do this." Peter shook his head, exiting her car. "Bribing me with plane tickets."

"It wasn't a bribe." She looked at him indignantly. "They're just a late birthday present. Violet told me that you wanted to go to The Grand Canyon."

"I bet you were just waiting for a reason to give those to me," he said grudgingly.

"I won't be in long. Ten minutes tops. I just need you to be my look out. Call me if anybody comes." They neared the building where the door to the bunker was. "And If I'm not out of there in ten minutes, you better come in there after me."

Peter sighed and leaned up against the wall next to the door. "Okay, I'll need those codes again then." he held out his hand in irritation as she pulled out a pen from her bag and scribbled '843462546' and '627952630' on it.

"If you need to get in, try using the second one first. It's Scarlet's. I don't want Harry's code triggering any alarms or anything. I'm sure they know something is up with him. If that code doesn't work, then just use Harry's."

"Whatever Felicia, just hurry up and get out. I don't want to go back inside there." he crossed his arms and huffed.

She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks, Parker. I owe you one again."

"No you don't, you gave me plane tickets." He rolled his eyes, trying to hide the blush on his face. She was standing so close to him that he could still see the golden flecks in her eyes in the dark room. It was then that he noticed a small scar above her upper lip and he briefly wondered what had happened to her. Suddenly, at that moment, he had the urge to feel her lips on his.

It was as if she could read his mind. Without warning, Felicia's lips met his. The warmth of her mouth sent a current through his body. Almost as soon as it started, the moment was over, and Felicia pulled away from him.

"I told you, that was a birthday present." she smiled smugly at him. "Anger doesn't suit you, by the way." She winked and entered her code, swiftly entering the room just as the door opened and then closed behind her.

Peter checked the time. It was nearly two in the morning. He sighed and pushed the some gravel around with his feet.

He wasn't sure why he had felt the sudden need to kiss Felicia, and he wondered briefly if it was a mistake. Then again, Harry had said there wasn't anything between them. There was also Lila to consider, but he knew a relationship wasn't really plausible between the two of them, being as he was her boss. When it came down to it, did he even want a relationship with Felicia? He didn't even know how he felt about her, or why he wanted to kiss her suddenly. He decided to wrap up the whole 'Felicia situation' for later, and focus on getting his friend better first.

"Hurry up, Felicia," he muttered to himself. It had only been two minutes, but he felt like a sitting duck here, and didn't want her alone in there either. Scarlet was probably out trying to find Harry right now, so she probably wouldn't be coming back to the bunker tonight.

He didn't tell Violet or Harry that he was leaving the house. Instead he left a note on the kitchen table for whoever saw it. Felicia had promised it would be a quick trip. He just hoped Harry would still be there when they got back.

He absentmindedly began tracing the numbers that she had scribbled onto his hand. She had told him that her code was "black cat" by using a phone keypad. Much had changed over the years concerning his feelings towards Felicia. She was no longer the ruthless criminal she once was. She was far from being what most people would consider "good", but she had her moments.

He idly wondered what Harry's code name was, so he took out his phone and looked at the buttons while comparing the numbers on the keypad. It took him a minute, and he laughed darkly as he found that the numbers came out as "the goblin." What else did he expect?

Curious to see what Scarlet's was, he looked at her numbers on his hand and began studying the phone numbers again.

"Okay..." he said out loud. The word 'Scarlet' was not in the number combination. He sniffed to himself when it wasn't 'demon' or 'demon bitch' either.

He checked the time. Felicia had four more minutes before he was going to come in and look for her. It was going to bother him if he couldn't figure out the last code.

Okay, he thought, so the second letter has to be an "a." He began doing different combinations with the couple letters that the numbers gave him, and when he got to the 4th number, his eyes went wide. He shook his head because subconsciously, he knew what the next letters would be, but he didn't believe it.

He put his hand in his pocket, not wanting to see the next couple letters. He felt his heart start to race, and he felt his hands curled into fists. He didn't want to see what the next letters were going to be. But he had to.

He took out his hand again. Starting from the first letter, just in case he had somehow made a mistake. He swore to himself as he found that it was, in fact, correct. He finished the whole combination and stared at his hand in horror.

Mary Jane.

He staggered backwards.

It couldn't be her.

That was impossible. He had watched her die, but then, he watched Harry die too...

He heard a beep and the doors to the bunker opened, revealing a smug looking Felicia, sporting a bag slung over her shoulders.

"He only had a few odds and ends, including this nifty looking knife-" she held up a neon green and black hunting knife, "-and then there's... Parker?" she questioned as she stuffed the knife back into the bag. "What's wrong? Looks like you seen a ghost."

She laughed and got into a defensive position, scanning the building for the possible threat.

Peter swore to himself. If this was somehow true, which there was noway it could be, Felicia would have known all along. She spent several years on that island, and she would have known the identity of the Scarlet Soldier this entire time.

"Felicia..." he began, "I'm not sure what I am to you. I may have misinterpreted something down the line, but I was under the impression that you and I were friends. I consider you to be one of my only friends, in the fact that I feel as if I can trust you with... well basically anything." he lightly chuckled and ran his hand through his hair, his eyes finally making eye contact with hers.

"Does this have anything to do with Harry?" she smiled and cocked her head slightly to the side. "Because I'm sure he doesn't mind that I've been staying at your-"

"This had nothing to do with Harry," he stated flatly.

She must have realized something was wrong, because the smile disappeared almost instantly from her face. "What then? As much as I loathe the idea, I _guess_ I would consider you a friend."

She attempted not to smirk again, and Peter's stare hardened. "Okay, okay. All joking aside, I do consider you a friend, Par-Peter. And likewise, you're one of the only friends I have. Now what's bothering you?"

Peter shut his eyes, taking a deep breathe before opening them again. "I have a question to ask you, and I need your complete honesty."

"Ooo, sounds interesting." she raised an eyebrow at him. "Shoot."

"Who is the Scarlet Soldier?"

She was obviously not prepared for that question. Her mouth opened and closed quickly. "I- I already told you. She was Harry's cell neighbor. I was on her team."

"Who was she before she became that? Her name, Felicia?" he pressed.

"I-" she began again, but shook her head.

Peter gave a frustrated sigh. "Last chance, Felicia. What is her name? I need to know the truth." His voice nearly broke on the last word.

"I think you already know," she said in a small voice.

"So... it's true then." He shook his head and slumped down to the ground. "She's been there the whole time. On that island. She was... my god, she was tortured!" he pulled at his hair. "Why?" he questioned, looking up at her.

"Why what?" she asked in a somber tone.

"Why didn't you tell me it was her!?" he stood up from the ground. "You've been back here for months, Felicia. Months! Why would you hide something like this from me?" The pain in his voice was evident.

"I don't know why exactly," she said in a strained voice. "At first I wasn't sure where you and I stood. I had information that you didn't know about that I could use if needed. But then... you let me stay at your house, you protected me. I-I wasn't sure how to tell you. Then I realized I couldn't tell you yet because _I_ had to protect _you._ "

"How is that protecting me!?" he yelled. She had tears in her eyes, but he didn't care at this moment. His fiancee had been alive for over ten years and he had been at home this entire time.

"Think about it!" her voice was full of emotion, "If I had told you, you wouldn't have feared her. You would have gone right up to her, tried to save her, you would have gotten yourself killed! I know you would have, because that's just how you are. You try to save everyone, but sometimes you don't even care about what happens to yourself. She wouldn't hesitate to kill you if you tried to capture her, or destroy her mission in any way. I figured that the less you knew, the better." He wiped away a stray tear.

"The less I knew, the better." he repeated, shaking his head. "Give me the bag."

"What?" her face scrunched up in confusion.

"The bag. Give me the bag." He pointed to the bag of Harry's belongings by her feet.

She looked between the bag and him quickly. "Those are Harry's things. I want to bring them to him so when he wakes up, I can give him at least _some_ good news."

"You're not staying there anymore." he shook his head at her, " _I'll_ give Harry his bag-" Felicia began to protest, but he kept going, "I'll let him know you were the one to fetch the items, but you're not going there."

"I don't care who you say got his stuff for him, just don't- don't be like this, please." she strained her voice, "I need to see Harry. You can't keep me away from him."

"I would never make him choose." he sniffed. "I'll give him your number. He can leave my house to go see you, but you're not coming to my house again." he said with finality.

She stared at him for several moments before replying. "Don't do this, Parker. I didn't keep this from you to hurt you, I did it to protect you. I'm not even going to say it was a mistake, because I don't know if it was. You're still alive, which is something." She tossed the bag over to him.

"She wouldn't have killed me, Felicia." he grit his teeth. "She won't."

"That's what I'm talking about!" she yelled. "You have no idea what you're dealing with Parker." she shook her head at him. "I don't want to see you killed."

"I'll let Harry know you want to see him. I'm sure you two have catching up to do." He didn't reply to her comment. "Goodbye, Felicia," he said, turning away from her to go back to his car. He didn't turn around or wait for a goodbye, but when he got to his car, he glanced back and she was already gone.

The ride home seemed like it took forever. His thoughts bounced back and forth between Mary Jane and Felicia. What was he going to do! What was he going to tell Aunt May, or his children? He had to see her first, to make sure it was actually her, and not another one of those shifters that he had met in the bank that one day not so long ago. He sighed, pulling into his driveway. He needed to talk to Harry about all of this in the morning, there was no need to wake him up now, after everything he had been through in the last day.

He made sure to be quiet as he walked into his home. Locking the door behind him, he stared at the picture of Mary Jane on his wall. Her red hair was practically glowing, and her smile was enough to push away any negative thoughts he had.

"If there is any chance, any chance at all that it really is you, that you're still alive," he whispered to the picture, "I will make _sure_ to bring you back home to us."


	15. Chapter 15

"Wake up, Dad." Peter opened his eyes to see his daughter staring back at him; her backpack on her back and the bag that he brought home last night slung over her right shoulder. "You probably shouldn't keep these things out with children in the house, they might get hurt," she commented as she dropped the bag next to the couch he had passed out on.

"Vi, listen," he began as he jumped up from the couch.

Memories from last night flooded back. The hospital. The fire. Harry. Felicia. He _kissed_ her. And then, then there was _Mary Jane_.

She rolled her eyes and began towards the door. "You also probably shouldn't allow a _murderer_ in the house."

"Violet," he said in a louder tone, shifting to face her. "I am sorry about Andrew. There was no way I could bring him home last night. Don't you think I would have if I could?"

"No, you were more worried about saving your friend that you haven't seen in ten years. The same guy who was going to kill _me_." she frowned at him.

"Harry was under mind-control, and Andrew is in a coma, Vi."

"What?" she dropped her backpack on the ground. "I want to see him."

Peter shook his head. "You have school. I don't want you to miss anymore. He should be fine within a few days, maybe even today."

"How would you know that?"

"Well, both of you have amazing healing abilities. Actually, I'd be surprised if I didn't get a call from the doctor by tomorrow," he said with a smile on his face.

"Okay..." she said uncertainly. "But if you don't get a call by tomorrow night, I want to see him."

"Deal," Peter agreed, "Now, please stop being so upset with me. You know if there was anyway I could have brought him home last night, I would have."

She sighed. "I know, Dad. I just want him back."

Peter nodded and picked her backpack up from off the ground and handed it to her. "Me too, Vi. Now seriously, get to school."

Violet gave him a quick hug and ran out the front door. Peter stared at the front door as it shut behind her. Should he tell her about her mother? Was it the right thing to do? Or would she run off like Andrew had? That just put more questions in his mind like: Did Andrew know that Scarlet was actually his mother? And-

Someone cleared their throat behind him. Peter spun around.

"Didn't mean to startle you." Harry said, his expression unreadable.

"You didn't," Peter said quickly, then seeing Harry raise a questioning eyebrow at him, he flashed a reassuring smile. "I mean, I just wasn't expecting..." he trailed off.

Harry just nodded at him, glancing around the corners of the room, avoiding looking at him. He absentmindedly scratched the staples in his head again.

"We uh- Felicia and I got some of your belongings for you," he gestured towards the duffle bag on the ground in the living room. Harry looked up at him for a moment and, just for half a second, the look in his eyes caused Peter to take half a step back. Peter knew the movement hadn't gone unnoticed and he instantly felt bad.

"Thanks," Harry said to him without a look towards the duffle bag. Instead he walked into the kitchen and stopped at the sink. Peter watched as Harry brushed his fingers over the part of his head where they had cut the chip out. Suddenly, Harry pulled out one of the staples with his finger and dropped it into the sink.

"What are you uh- what are you doing?" Peter questioned, crossing his arms and walking over towards the sink.

Another staple fell into the sink, making a clinking sound. "These need to come out. That wound already healed and if they stay in any longer it's going to be a bitch to get them out." Clink. Blood started to trail down where Harry had ripped out the staples.

"You need anything?" Peter felt awkward just standing there staring at him. He leaned up against the fridge, quickly checking his phone. He had expected Felicia to try calling him or leaving him a message. Surprisingly he didn't have any missed calls from her. Just a message from Lila asking if he was free later today. He decided he'd reply later and pocketed his phone.

Harry shook his head, his shaggy hair swinging back and forth. It was definitely different seeing Harry without his perfectly styled haircut. "Nah. This is literally nothing." The last staple fell into the sink with a final clink. He scooped up the staples and tossed them in the trash, washing his hands afterwards.

"I can practically feel that question burning away at you, man," Harry said, slowly pulling out a chair and sitting on it backwards. He folded his arms on the spine on the chair and rested his chin on his arms, looking up at Peter. "So, ask away my friend."

Peter didn't even hesitate, "Is MJ Scarlet?"

"Yes," Harry answered.

"Yes?" Harry nodded his head once. Peter walked from the fridge to his cabinet and took out a nearly empty bottle of whiskey and poured himself a small glass. He held up the glass, asking if Harry wanted any. He didn't.

Peter pulled out a chair and sat down across from Harry. "How could this happen?"

"It's complicated." Harry's right leg bounced. He didn't seem to notice.

"You hate complicated," Peter said. The corner of Harry's mouth twitched upright for a second.

"I do." Harry realized his leg was shaking and abruptly stopped. "You really didn't know who she was?" He looked up at Peter.

Peter shook his head at him. "Not until last night. Felicia confirmed it." He practically spit out her name.

Harry raised an eyebrow at that. "She didn't come back last night."

"She's not welcome here anymore." How could she have kept such a big thing from him? "She's been staying here all this time, we've been helping each other! She had so many chances to tell me, Har. Obviously I'm not going to stop you if you want to see her, but she can't come back here."

"I do have some things I need to talk with her about, but I completely understand."

They were quiet for a moment before Peter spoke again. "She said she didn't tell me because she was trying to protect me. She said I should stay away from MJ because she's dangerous."

"Oh, she is dangerous." Harry huffed out a laugh.

"But we helped you. I can find a way to help her too!"

"Peter, man, I'm not saying not to try. I was.. confused.. at first on why you hadn't tried to get her back sooner. When it was me you saved first, didn't make sense. Then I realized you didn't know about her." Harry reached towards the scar on his head where the staples had been. Already the scar was fading and he could feel his hair growing back in that spot. "And before you say anything, yes, I will help you get her back."

Peter smiled. "I knew you'd say that." He didn't have a plan yet. How was he supposed to capture her when she could fly!? Then he remembered something. "Harry, what happened to my son?"

"He's in a coma in the hospital... you told Violet that before she left," Harry said, an eyebrow raised in confusion.

"No, no. I mean, what was done to him? His eyes..." The intense glowing blue color was so unsettling.

Harry sighed loudly and stood up from the chair. "Honestly Peter, you're not going to like it. I'm going to cut right to the chase, though. It's not good. Styrker... he really put a lot of effort into twisting him into something-"

"So he definitely was at that island then?" Peter's nearly yelled. "Dammit, Harry."

"I know. I'm sorry."

Peter shook his head. "I'm not blaming you. It's my fault he left. I... I said some pretty shitty things to him. But, I need to know what happened to him."

Harry seemed reluctant to speak at first. His foot kept nervously tapping the ground. "Well, for one he has telepathy. As you saw on the field he was able to psychically torture you."

Peter remembered the pain. He thought every vessel in his head was going to explode.

"Stryker had him test his abilities on people. He- his powers..." Harry trailed off and seemed to stare into space.

"Harry?" Peter called his name. Harry snapped his head back up to look at him.

"He has mind persuasion. Manipulation. He- he has fear augmentation. He can literally enhance any feelings of fear you have. He can make a force field around himself. I don't know what else. I didn't see it all. Peter.. I don't think we will be able to get him back."

Peter scrunched his eyebrows together. "Get him back? We already got him back, he's in the hospital, Har." Harry began shaking his head, but Peter interrupted. "Don't you dare say I won't get him back. He's my son. I'll get Mary Jane and him back here with me where they belong."

"You don't get it, do you? It's different for her because she has the chip. She has no control over how she feels or what she does. _He_ does. _He_ knows, Peter. Stryker told him before hand what might become of him and he _still said yes_." Harry's voice began to shake. "He knows that Scarlet is his mother. He wanted proof. They did the DNA test for him. She- she may have played up a bit on the whole "lost-mother" thing and made him believe she was glad to see him."

"He knows?" Peter said to himself more than anything. Harry nodded his head slowly.

"When I was... under the influence of the chip and I saw them in the burning building, I could sense it even then."

"Sense what?" Peter asked slowly.

"I have a kind of intuition about things like this. Your son had this aura about him. It was the need to prove himself. He felt unappreciated. Worthless. Empty." Another emotion flickered across Harry's eyes. "It was so strong. I knew it would be simple to turn him to 'our' side."

"And it was." Peter glared hard at him. He knew it truly wasn't Harry's fault, but it hurt to hear this about his son. "I'll get him back Harry. I will."

Harry looked like he was about to argue, but he dropped it. "Look man, I need to go find somewhere to stay for a bit. I can't keep wearing your things." He gestured to the over-sized hoodie he was wearing.

"Do you want me to bring me to your old house? Osborn Manor?"

"You own that place now," Harry pointed out.

Peter rolled his eyes. "Please. I was just holding onto it for you. Of course it's your place."

Harry seemed like he was about to smile. "How's Oscorp?"

"Great, actually. Uh- yeah, Felicia, she and I are co-owners of the place."

"W-o-w," Harry said each syllable. "How did you guys manage to do that without killing each other?"

"Only seeing each other every couple of months." Peter huffed out a laugh. "But now, with you being back and all, I'm sure you can replace her." Because either Felicia was going or he was going.

"Actually, Pete, I can't go back to Oscorp. Technically, I am dead." He shrugged sheepishly.

Damn, he almost forgot about that. "Yeah- yeah that's probably not going to work." He shook his head.

"I don't know what I'm going to do, man."

"What do you mean? With what?"

"With- with anything. I'm not supposed to be here." Harry's voice suddenly became louder. "I'm supposed to be dead. I died. Then I came back. I killed more people. I... I can't go back to my old job. The building my father _created_... and I- I have so many thoughts swirling through my head 24/7, they won't stop, Peter!"

"Harry, don't worry about-"

"No! You don't know what this is like. I don't belong here. Why am I even here? In your house? You should want me dead. This is wrong." Harry got up to pace. "I tried to kill your family. I tried to kill you."

" _You_ didn't, and I know that. You gotta stop blaming yourself," he said seriously. "We've been down this road before. You have to move on and forgive yourself."

"Forgive myself?" laughed Harry. "For- for Gwen? For _every single person in Ravencroft_ , Peter? Doctor Connors? Anna Watson. I even got Max and Flint killed. Hell, I've even killed Gustav Fiers, Doc Ock, Venom..." he trailed off.

"I know, Harry. I know." Peter got closer to his friend. "Like I said, we've been down this path before."

"But there's more, Peter! So much more. On the island. All the people I had to kill to test my old powers. My new ones. Then there were the people I had to dispose of that Styrker didn't want anymore. One of them- fuck, one of them was an eight year old. And you're telling me to forgive myself!? How the hell am I supposed to do that? How could you?" Harry was beginning to shout. "And while we're at it, let's not forget the people that were killed during our bank robberies. The people that were killed in our raids. I brought Andrew to Stryker, so anyone he has killed is on me too!"

"Harry." he said calmly to his friend. "We. Will. Get. Through. This. No matter what." He put his hand on his friend's shoulder. "I promise."

Suddenly, Harry's arm reached up so quick Peter didn't even sense it coming. Harry gripped Peter's arm where he had been touching his shoulder.

"Harry?" he questioned. The sudden change in Harry's demeanor was alarming. That hateful glare was back in his eyes. The edge of his mouth curled into a cold smile, razor-sharp teeth showing. "Let go," Peter said sharply.

The grip tightened on his arm. Damn, Peter thought, they really enhanced his strength...

"Harry!" Peter shouted as he felt one of his bones in his arm about to break. He really didn't want to hurt his friend. "I'm sorry about this..." he pulled back his other arm and punched Harry in the jaw as hard as he could. He hadn't even flinched.

Snap. That did it. His arm was definitely broken. He held in a howl of pain. "Listen to me man, you're literally breaking my arm. Whatever is happening right now, please. Let go!"

Harry's arm began to shake. He shook his head, his shaggy hair covering up part of his eyes. "Did you miss me, Peter?"

Peter narrowed his eyes. "Goblin?"

Harry laughed. "I'm so much more than that now. It's been awhile, hasn't it? I'm new and improved now though." Another laugh. Another snap in Peter's arm. "And I am _always_ with Harry. You thought he had to fight hard to control me before? Just imagine how much pain he's going through to subdue me now..."

All of a sudden, the area on Peter's arm where Harry's hand was started to heat up. Peter thought at first it was because of the multiple breaks in the arm. But then it became hotter. Too hot.

"Harry, fuck! Let go! Fight it!" Peter yelled. He could smell his skin start to burn. The goblin's laugh was suddenly cut off and Harry let go within a millisecond.

He looked down at his broken arm. There was a burn mark in the shape of a handprint on him. The goblin had used his newfound fire abilities on him.

"Peter?" Harry looked at him, voice shaking.

Peter walked to the sink, running his arm under cool water. "Don't sweat it, man." he said in a strangled voice. "I'll heal in a few hours anyways. This is not a big deal, just another-" He turned around, feeling something wasn't right.

Harry was gone.


	16. Chapter 16

Harry scrunched his nose as he walked swiftly through the halls of the hospital. He had always hated these places. The smell of disinfectants and occasional bodily fluids made him sick. It reminded him of the last few days his father had been on bed rest.

He pulled Peter's hoodie more tightly over his head, feeling paranoid that someone might recognize him. It had been over ten years, but still, you never know. The receptionist at the front desk had informed him where Andrew was, and he signed in under the name 'Henry Parker,' claiming to be Andrew's uncle.

As he turned another corner, he bit down hard on his lip, drawing blood. He hadn't even been free from the chip's influence for a full day yet and he could already feel the differences. When the chip was activated, it was as if the goblin was out 24/7. On the days they turned the chip off, Harry was able to just be himself. Without the chip he felt unbalanced.

It must be some sort of effect from the changes they put me through, he thought.

He had to work overtime to keep the goblin at bay. Back when he and Peter had been just getting everything back to normal, he was able to keep the goblin from coming out. He was able to control his emotions and knew exactly what to do. But now...

He shook his head roughly. The goblin hadn't stopped taunting him since last night. Only when he finally succumbed to sleep had he been able to block out the voices. The last thing he wanted to do was cause his friend any more harm than he already had. What the hell was he going to do?

The smell of burning flesh haunted him. He was standing there, burning Peter's arm, and there was nothing he could do. He could tell Peter didn't want to hurt him, and instead had tried to talk him out of it. The look Peter had given him made his stomach churn...

Room C426.

Looking up he realized he was finally at Andrew's hospital room. He took a deep breath as he turned the handle and opened the door, quietly shutting it behind him.

The chuckle escaped him before he could stop himself. Felicia was sleeping up against the window in a hospital chair, mouth wide open, drool and everything.

"Rise and shine, Felicia," Harry whispered as he shook he shoulder.

Her eyes popped open and she quickly wiped the drool from her mouth, looking aggravated, but her glare softened when she saw who it was.

"Harry!" she exclaimed.

He put his finger up to his mouth. She rolled her eyes and nodded.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Sleeping." She crossed her arms.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "No shit. Peter told me he kicked you out. So why are you here, with him?" he nodded his head towards Andrew's bed. The boy was still asleep, hooked up to a heart monitor and IV bag.

"We- I- it took us awhile to find him, Peter and I. Obviously I was excited when I found you too but, I guess I developed a bit of a soft spot for those brats." She smiled. "I just wanted to check in and see how he was doing, but I ended up passing out here." She shrugged. "So, why are you here?"

"I..." Why was he here again? He looked behind him at the sleeping boy.

 _Take him back to Stryker. Take them both back._ The goblin whispered to him. _All will be forgiven and you can go back to the way things were. Think about it..._

"No." Harry shook his head.

"No?" Felicia repeated and raised an eyebrow.

 _You want to protect Peter, don't you? If you stay here, they'll come looking for you. If you go back to Stryker now, with Andrew and Felicia, maybe it will be enough._ The goblin encouraged him. _You're Stryker's favorite, he'll forgive you._

"I need to speak to Andrew," Harry said finally. "I need to try to talk some sense into him. He needs to go home."

Felicia got up from the chair and took a few steps towards Harry. "I know." she put a hand on his upper arm. Harry inhaled and flinched slightly. Felicia didn't comment.

 _Stryker wants Felicia back. Grab her, now! If you don't, maybe I'll come out next. She won't get back to Stryker in one piece, but..._

"You need a haircut," she commented, sweeping back some of his hair. "It's covering up your..." Felicia let out a small gasp.

"What?" Harry said quickly.

Felicia got closer to his face. "Your eyes. They look... I've never seen them like this before."

Harry pulled away from her and walked into the small bathroom that the room had. Once he looked into the bathroom mirror he saw what she was talking about.

He had expected his eyes to be bloodshot or something. It was the opposite, the sclera was completely white. His irises were a different story. The outer part was a bright icy blue color, very much like his normal eye color. The part around his pupil was an almost-neon green color, and it looked like it was moving, slightly. Harry stared at his eyes in the mirror, the green pulsing like a heartbeat.

 _I am always going to be in your head, Harry. Whatever Stryker did to you, he unleashed me more freely. You thought it was hard to keep me at bay before..._

"They're... mesmerizing," Felicia commented behind him. She walked up to Harry and again pushed the hair out of his face. "I've missed you so much, Harry."

He prepared himself to deny her kiss that was so sure to come, but instead he found her arms around his waist, pulling him into a hug.

 _Ugh, better yet, let's kill this pathetic wasted experiment now. We can tell Stryker we tried. Please?_ The Goblin laughed.

"Felicia, there's something wrong with me. I'm not safe to be around, you need to get out of here." he started pushing her out of the bathroom.

"Whoa, Harry, hold on a second." She shut the bathroom door. "We just got you back, you can't push me out now."

Harry sighed and absently rubbed his head where the chip used to be.

"What's going on with you, Harry?" she asked gently.

"The goblin. He's here. In here _with_ me." He pointed to his head. "Felicia, I-"

There was a sudden coughing sound coming from behind the door.

"Hold that thought. Sounds like Andrew is waking up," Felicia said.

Harry put his hand on the doorknob first. "Can you please wait outside the room? I want to speak with him alone first."

Felicia stared at him for a few seconds before answering. "Of course."

He opened up the door and Felicia went straight to the hall, shutting the door behind her.

Andrew had to cough a few more times before he was able to talk.

"H-Harry? What- Where am I?" He looked around. "Oh."

Harry nodded. "You were electrocuted. You weren't breathing right, so we brought you here."

" _We?_ Is my father here!?" He looked around the room again and then shook his head. "You and I need to get out of here." He took the IV out of his arm.

"Wait a minute." Harry stopped him from pulling off the heart monitor wires. "Once you take that off, the nurse or doctor or whoever is going to come in here and I need to speak with you before that happens."

"Okay, what?" Andrew threw his arms up questioningly. "My mother's probably been wondering where I've been, and we need to check in with her."

Harry winced at this. Sca- Mary Jane, while the chip was activated, wasn't able to use or show emotions. Harry and she had come up with the idea, to gain Andrew's trust, by having her pretend to care for him. She told him about her being his mother, and they of course left out anything he didn't need to know.

"Listen, I need to talk to you about her. About this whole thing, Andrew." Harry began. "Your mother, she's not exactly who she says she is-"

"Yes she is. We did a DNA test," he said simply.

"No, no." Harry waved his hands. "That is _her_ , but not really. She still has that chip activated in her. While that's in her, she can't really be herself."

Andrew raised his eyebrow. "What does the tracking chip have anything to do with that?"

Harry ran his hand through his hair. "Th-they're not tracking chips."

He narrowed his eyes. "You're different. What's wrong with you?"

"My chip-" Harry started, but suddenly there was a burning sensation in his throat and he put his hand to his mouth to cough. When he pulled his hand away there was a small amount of blood splatter.

 _Uh-Oh. Looks like somebody's in trouble_ , the goblin taunted.

"No," Harry said to himself, being reminded of the time he was dying from the disease his father had passed to him. He shook his head and wiped the blood off on his pants. Suddenly, the door to to room opened up. Harry straightened himself up, expecting it to be a nurse or Felicia.

He'd never had good luck.

Scarlet came strolling in, Felicia in front of her with a gun to the back of her head. In the second that Scarlet had to shut the door behind her, Harry raised his eyebrow at Felicia ever so slightly, and she imperceptibly shook her head.

Right as the door shut, Scarlet pulled Felicia's hands behind her back and handcuffed her. Harry staightened himself up and double checked that the blood was off of his hand.

"This whole situation raises _a lot_ of questions," Scarlet said offhandedly. "And although they will be answered, I need to finish my assignment. I'm late. I hate being late." She glared at Felicia.

"I'm glad I made you sweat a little." Felicia answered sweetly. The comment earned her a hard slap from Scarlet, causing a small trail of blood from her nose.

"Mom," Andrew called from the bed, ripping the heart monitor off.

Scarlet smiled at the boy and then turned to Harry. "Why would you take him to the hospital?"

"He was hurt, that's what you do when the people you care about are hurt," Felicia answered before Harry could.

Scarlet stared at her for a moment and decided she was telling the truth.

The door opened and closed once again, a nurse appearing in the room.

"Andrew! You're awake! This is-" the nurse came in excitedly, but then with a quick glance around the room she seemed to take in what was going on. "This is a hospital," she said to Scarlet, who had the gun in her hand. Harry saw her look at Felicia's handcuffs. "Let these people go," she said quietly.

Scarlet tilted her head, studying the nurse for a moment. "Well, you heard her, boys. Go on then. Go." She gestured towards the door. Andrew sniffed and sat back down on the bed, and Harry stood there avoiding eye contact.

"You see? You're interrupting." Scarlet held the gun up towards the nurse.

"No, no please!" the nurse managed to gasp out. Andrew looked away and a second later the nurse dropped to the floor, dead.

 _There we go! Finally, some action!_ The goblin laughed to himself.

"Goblin, call your glider. I'll get Andrew's here." She pulled out a device and pressed a button, pocketing it a second later. She took out her phone and began texting.

"I lost all my stuff." Harry gestured to himself, attempting to look sheepish. He instantly knew that was the wrong move.

Scarlet stopped texting and looked up at Harry. It was only a second, but he saw her eyes quickly dart to the area the chip was cut out from his head.

"Ah. I see." Scarlet said softly. She pulled out her gun and aimed it right at his head.

"No!" Felicia jumped forward, but was pulled back violently by Scarlet. "What are you doing!?" Felicia yelled.

"She knows about the chip," Harry said calmly, standing his ground.

"Don't kill him," Felicia pleaded.

Scarlet turned from her and stared right into Harry's eyes.

"He'll heal." she stated.

And then the gun went off.


	17. Chapter 17

The first thought that came into Harry Osborn's mind was that he was dead. There was no other explanation. He had seen Scarlet point the gun at him and she had fired.

 _But we're not dead. Wake up, Harry. You're in for a treat._

There was an itching sensation on the side of his head that he instantly became aware of. He went to scratch it, but found that his arm would not move. He tried again with his other, but that one was also unable to move. Without panicking, he attempted to move both legs and his arms again, but to no avail.

"He's waking up," he heard a gruff male voice say somewhere in front of him.

Harry opened his eyes and saw a figure directly to his left.

"Stryker," he spit out.

Looking down, Harry realized that he was sitting in one of the chairs that they used to interrogate enemies and persuade possible allies. His arms and legs were immobilized, but he was thankful that he was still able to move his head to look around.

Stryker didn't even look at him.

"Mr. Osborn, Scarlet here tells me you've had your chip removed." he said offhandedly. "Care to tell me what happened?"

Harry ground his teeth together. The anger he felt towards this man was nearly overwhelming. He shook his head and that's when everything in the room started to come into focus.

Felicia was seated in a chair about fifteen feet to his right, immobilized just as he was. Her forehead was creased with worry, and he noticed she kept glancing up at the side of his head.

She must be worried about how I was shot in the head, he thought to himself.

He looked forward and was surprised by what he saw, but he managed to mask the alarm from appearing on his face. There were twelve people kneeling on the ground, all of which were facing Felicia and himself. They were all blind-folded and handcuffed. He didn't recognize any of them. The fifth person on the ground looked like a kid no older than eight or nine, just as old as that child was that Stryker had ordered Harry to get rid of...

"Not in the mood to talk, Harry?" Stryker continued.

Harry stubbornly looked away and didn't answer. With an amused smile Stryker turned towards one of the heavy armored doors in the room.

"Come on in," he called.

Scarlet made her way into the room, her mask was unzipped with her bright red hair dancing in waves around her.

"Told you you'd heal," she said to Harry as she stopped to stand near Stryker.

"That doesn't mean it didn't hurt." he remarked.

Stryker let out an amused laugh. "Ah, so you will speak then?"

"Was he not answering your questions?" Scarlet said with mock worry.

"He was not, actually. Think you could persuade him?" Stryker gestured to the people kneeling on the floor.

Harry understood the second that Scarlet grabbed the gun from her hip.

"Wait, no!" he yelled out.

It was too late. Scarlet shot the first person in the back on the head, the body slumped forward to the ground in a heap.

Panicked screams and yells erupted from the other eleven people on the ground. He wondered why none of them got up from the floor, but that's when he noticed that their ankles were bound together.

"Everyone be quiet!" Scarlet said loudly in an authoritative tone.

"We're trying to have a conversation here, and the next person who interrupts will also end up with a bullet in their brain." she smiled. "That goes for you too, Harry."

She walked around the body on the floor to stand in front of Harry.

"What, you're going to shoot me in the head again?" he taunted her a smirk on his face. "Obviously whatever you guys did to me heals me up pretty quickly."

Scarlet grabbed the back of his hair and pulled his head back. "I meant, your actions, or rather inactions, might cost these people their lives."

She released his hair.

"So next time Stryker or myself ask you a question, you answer it. And you know that I'm a human lie detector," she added.

"Yeah, I'm really not seeing any reason why I should bother answering your questions," Harry responded.

"Harry," Felicia said.

Harry turned towards her. She narrowed her eyes at him and shook her head, staring him down. After a long moment he sighed loudly.

"Fine. But first, where's Andrew?" Harry asked.

"He's safe. You do not need to worry about where my son is." Scarlet said.

"Harry, did you take the chip out of your head?" Stryker cut in.

Harry took his eyes off of Scarlet and looked over towards him. "No."

Stryker smiled and nodded. "Good. This is good." he clapped his hands together.

"How so?" Harry wanted to know.

"This means that you or the chip was not defective. You see, if you can somehow over power the chip in your head, you are of no use to me," he said. "But, that is not the case. Who removed your chip?"

Harry's face fell flat. "I don't know."

"He's lying," Scarlet said.

Stryker shook his head. "You get one freebie, Mr. Osborn. Next time you lie to me, Scarlet will kill another civilian."

"What are you going to do to the person who did this?" Harry asked.

"We're the ones asking questions here. We need to get to the bottom of this. See what went wrong, so we can continue our missions," Scarlet said.

"Who removed your chip? Was it Felicia?" Stryker continued.

"No!" Harry shouted just as Felicia simultaneously said, "Yes."

BANG. The second person kneeling was shot and fell to the floor. She was a middle aged woman with short blonde hair.

The little boy who was fifth in line began to cry.

"Hey kid, don't worry, it'll be okay," Harry tried to calm him down.

Stryker watched Harry with his hand on his chin.

"What's your name kid?" Harry asked.

"Sergio," the kid sniffled.

"Sergio, I promise you that you'll be okay," Harry said.

"Harry, they'll kill the person who took out your chip just on the principle. You can't tell them," Felicia said as she stared at the puddle of blood that was starting to spread towards the third and fourth person on the ground.

Scarlet walked over and hit Felicia over the head with the gun, and put a strip of duct tape over her mouth.

"I didn't lie to you! Why did you kill her!?" he growled at Scarlet.

Scarlet sniffed at him. "She lied." She pointed towards Felicia. Scarlet walked behind the third person and put the gun to their head.

"Harry. I just need to understand the situation. I need to make sure that this person isn't a risk and isn't trying to take my property away from me." Stryker smiled, but Harry looked away.

"It was Spider-Man, wasn't it?" Stryker asked, his lip curled.

"No!" Harry shook his head quickly. "He has nothing to do with this!"

Scarlet smiled. "It was Spider-Man," she said as the third person got shot. He was an older man, probably fifty or sixty.

"Fuck! Stop, please! Just- just let me explain things, please." Harry struggled to get out of the chair but it was no use. "Stop shooting people. I'll talk."

Harry knew that Peter would be extremely disappointed in him if he continued to allow these people here to die.

Stryker nodded towards Scarlet and she lowered her gun.

"He captured me and removed the chip. He just wanted to help me. I-" Harry breathed in deeply. "I'll do anything. Just don't hurt Peter."

Stryker watched him for a moment. "I take it your talk with him didn't go as planned? Spider-Man doesn't want to join us? Join his family?"

"No, he wants them to be _safe_." Harry stressed the word. "He wants his son back."

"That's not going to happen." Stryker narrowed his eyes. "I was hoping to get the whole set, but I guess I can do with half of them." he shrugged.

"Andrew doesn't belong here!" Harry lashed out. "Give him back! He's just a kid!"

Stryker smiled and raised an eyebrow at Harry. "No."

Harry and Stryker remained in eye contact for what seemed like hours.

"You'll leave him alone then?" Harry asked. "Peter, I mean. And his daughter. You'll leave them alone?"

"Harry, you know I'm not a heartless person. I gave you the choice to end his life or not. Your mission was to try to recruit him. I will leave him alone as long as he leaves my property alone." Stryker replied. "But if he tries to take you back again, I will not hesitate to have him taken out."

Harry nodded and looked down at the floor. "What about Felicia and I? What do you have planned for us?"

"I'm just glad to have you back, Harry. We've missed you here." Stryker laughed. "You will not be punished for something that was out of your control. Felicia will of course have to pay for what she did." he turned his head towards her.

"Is there _any_ way I can convince you to let her go? We don't need her. Scarlet and I got what we needed done long before she came along." he nodded towards Felicia.

"No." Stryker slowly shook his head. "I've invested too much in this group to let any of you go. Besides, you should be thanking me, Harry. We saved your life. We gave you these powers. Don't you realize how hard it will be for someone to actually kill you now?"

"I don't care about any of that," Harry answered, his voice thick with emotion. "I just want the people I love to be safe."

"And as I said, we will leave your friend Peter Parker and the rest of his family alone. Now, I think it's about time we get that chip replaced." Stryker turned towards Scarlet. "You may bring the rest of the civilians back now. I believe Harry here is going to be reasonable."

Scarlet nodded and unlocked the chain between the third person who was dead on the floor, and the fourth person. She then began leading the rest of the people through the door she had come in through earlier.

This is it, Harry thought. He had one day of freedom. He was going to go back to how things were for the past ten years.

"I don't suppose I can convince you to just not chip me?" Harry inquired, grasping at straws.

"Harry, I had _you_ chipped the moment you came back into this building. You're just not activated yet. Felicia here on the other hand will need a new one." Stryker smiled as Scarlet came back into the room alone.

Ah, that's what Felicia had been staring at earlier. "Then, can I ask for a favor? Before I get my entire life stripped away from me again?" Harry pressed.

He just wanted a chance to apologize to Mary Jane while he could. He didn't know if there was going to be another chance. He wanted to say goodbye to Felicia as well. Who knows what was going to happen to her...

"Do you have anything to bargain with, Harry? Favors are not free." Stryker commented.

"I-" Harry thought of last night at Peter's house. There was a newspaper article he was reading about some guy in a helmet robbing banks...

"Yes. There is a guy in New York City who has been trying to rob banks. Real rookie, though. He was able to rob one but the second time, Spider-Man stopped him. From what the newspaper was saying, I believe he has some kind of powers. Maybe we can recruit him," Harry said, hoping this would be enough.

Stryker pursed his lips and nodded his head. "Interesting, Harry. I will definitely have to look into that. What kind of favor are you asking for here?"

"Can I have five minutes, just five, alone with Mary Jane? I mean, the real Mary Jane, with the chip deactivated. And then five minutes with Felicia. I just want to be able to say goodbye to them, and to say sorry-"

Stryker laughed cruelly. "Goodbye? Why would you do that, you'll be seeing them basically everyday just as before."

Harry stared hard at him. "You know why."

"I suppose I do. Fine, Harry. Because I do like you. You're a very useful asset." He turned towards Scarlet again. "Scarlet, release Harry and then please escort him to the courtyard outside. I will be deactivating your chip for several minutes and then you will return here and fetch Felicia. We will allow her several minutes as well. After that I would like you to escort Felicia to the operating room."

"Yes sir," Scarlet responded.

* * *

Harry looked around the courtyard. The small patch of land that was surrounded by the building. This was one of the spots they were taken to when their chips got deactivated for the day.

He always loved the rare times they were allowed out here. The air here was so refreshing and everything just seemed so much more vivid. There was a small patch of Colombian Orchids off to the side of the courtyard, the purples and blues were vibrant against the dull grey color of the building.

The door burst open and Mary Jane came running out to him, as she did nearly every time they were allowed this break. He opened his arms and allowed her to hug him, despite the constant nagging of the goblin.

"Harry, I got to see him again, we saw Peter," she said into his chest, tears falling down her face.

"I know. And I'm so sorry, MJ," he said, tightening the hug around her before letting go. "I'm sorry that I convinced Andrew to join us. I don't know how to fix this."

Mary Jane wiped away the tears from her face. "Don't be sorry for anything you did while you were under the chip's influence, Harry. None of this is any of our fault."

"Still..."

"I can't believe you two actually got out! Only to end up back here again." She shook her head. "You need to do whatever you can to get out of here. Take the chip out now!" Mary Jane pressed.

Harry shook his head sadly. "Stryker will never let me go. Besides, after everything that I've done, I'm not sure that I don't belong here."

Mary Jane looked at the orchid patch with a sad smile. "Harry, despite what anyone has ever said to you, you are not a bad person. You are one of the best people that I know. It isn't fair how all your life you've been given the short end of the stick."

Mary Jane let out a light laugh before continuing, "But, even then, your heart has always been in the right place when it comes down to it."

 _If you think what she's telling you is true, then you're even more pathetic than I thought. Even before I came into your life, you were never a good person._

"Look, MJ..." Harry began, ignoring what she had said, "I just wanted to let you know that whatever happens from here on out, I'm sorry. I don't think Stryker is going to be lenient about giving us much free time anymore."

Mary Jane nodded. "I'm glad that I was able to see Peter again. And Andrew and Violet..."

She trailed off and her face went serious. "Harry, you have to promise me you'll try your hardest to get them out of here."

"Them?" Harry repeated.

"My children," Mary Jane replied. "If you get the chance, please get them out of here. They can't grow up here, they just can't..."

She trailed off once more as she shook her head.

Harry studied her for a moment. "MJ, they only have Andrew, you know that right? Violet is with Peter. She doesn't have any intention to come here, believe me."

This time Mary Jane studied him with a strange expression. Harry thought perhaps she was confused, but why?

"Harry, no..." she said sadly as she walked up to him. "They didn't, they couldn't..."

"MJ, what are you talking about?" Harry backed up from her, his turn to be confused. "Other than us two, it's just Andrew and Felicia here with us. If I find a way to get us out of here, I won't hesitate."

"Why would they take away those memories from you, but not from me?" Mary Jane began to pace back and forth. "There has to be a reason, it just doesn't make sense."

Harry looked up at the camera in the corner of the courtyard. They were running low on time. He would be surprised if they still had a minute before her chip was activated. He needed to know what Mary Jane was talking about.

"MJ, we don't have much time, what are you talking about?" Harry grabbed her arms to stop her from pacing. "Just tell me."

"Our son, Harry."


	18. Chapter 18

It had only been an hour after Harry had left and the burn mark on Peter's arm had already faded into a scar. Another hour and the mark would be completely gone.

Peter had tried looking through the city for Harry, but with over 9 million people it was rather difficult trying to find someone who didn't want to be found. If he could just talk to him, explain that he wasn't upset about what happened...

Long after that burn mark had faded away, Peter made it back home. Harry would show up eventually. Peter opened up his front door and was surprised to see Aunt May standing in his kitchen.

"Hey Aunt May," Peter shut the door behind him, "what's up?"

"I've been trying to get a hold of you, but you left your cell phone at home." Aunt May pointed to his phone on the kitchen table.

Peter grimaced at the phone. "I know, I was in a hurry to leave and- well it doesn't matter right now. What's wrong?" he noticed the worried look on her face.

"Peter... the hospital was attacked while you were out. There were several murders and-"

"And what!?" Peter stepped towards her. He already knew what she was going to say. Andrew had already left the hospital.

"Andrew is missing again. The police have been calling the house, I spoke with them and told them I'd let you know as soon as you got home. They want you to go down to the station, the hospital was able to give them a video recording of what happened in Andrew's room."

"Okay. Okay." Peter looked around the room quickly. "Be right back!" he yelled as he ran upstairs to pull some clothes on over his suit. Aunt May had made it to the bottom of the stairs just as he was running back down.

"I'm going to the police station. I'll be back as soon as I know what's going on." Peter hugged her.

Aunt May pulled her jacket on. "I'm coming with you."

Peter paused by the front door. "You can't. You have to wait here, just in case Andrew or Ha- or if Violet gets back from school."

"But, Peter-"

"Please, Aunt May." He looked into her eyes. "I've got to hurry."

He didn't wait for an answer as he ran out the front door to his car. It would be faster to swing there, but it might look suspicious if he showed up there so fast without a vehicle. Besides, the police station wasn't that far from his house.

It took nearly twenty minutes to get there, and Peter wished he had just swung there instead. What the hell had happened at the hospital?

He parked his car on the side of the road and took the steps two at a time to the front of the police station. Captain Winchester was near the front desk, talking with a brunette woman.

"Captain Winchester! You called about my son?" Peter bounded over to him, ignoring the woman next to him.

The Captain looked at him in confusion, but held out his hand to him. "Have we met?"

"Oh uh- no we- I've seen you on the TV a lot." Peter nodded. "I'm Peter Parker, my son's room was attacked at the hospital."

"Ah yes! Mr. Parker, we actually have a video recording of what happened in the room during the time of the attack. We tried to get in touch with you at your home and your workplace. Your assistant here, Ms. Barton, came right away when we couldn't get a hold of you."

Peter turned quickly to see Lila Barton blushing up at him.

"Lila? What are you-"

"Peter!" she interrupted him. "I'm sorry, I didn't know if I should come her or not, but the police called work and I tried calling you, and I figured someone should be here." she rushed out.

"No, no, it's fine," Peter reassured her.

She smiled up at him, brushing her hair back behind her ear. "Well, I took a bus here, so I guess I'll go wait for the next one since you're here now."

"I can drop you back off at home." Peter said suddenly. "If you want me to, that is. Just let me talk to the police and then I can."

"Yes! Yes, of course." She nodded eagerly.

"Great." Peter flashed her a smile and then followed Captain Winchester.

The Captain sat him down in a chair and then got the video recording ready. "I'm going to warn you now, the video gets pretty graphic. We need to know if you know any of the people on this tape."

The tape had just barely started when another officer walked into the room. "Captain Winchester sir, Officer Vargas thinks he has a match to one of the suspects on the recording. Come check this out."

"I'll be right back Mr. Parker," Captain Winchester announced before leaving the room.

Seeing Andrew lying there unconscious on the bed made him feel sick. He hated the idea of knowing his son was hurt. He saw Felicia sleeping on the chair next to his son for a while until another figure entered the room. Peter knew who it was right away even though the person had their hood covering their face; Peter recognized his own hoodie. A minute passed and both Felicia and Harry went into the bathroom. Their was a small flash of yellow on the screen and suddenly Andrew was awake.

"What the-" Peter paused the tape and rewinded it ten seconds.

There it was again! There was a small flash near his son's head and a moment later he was awake. Felicia went to the hallway and Harry looked like he was speaking to Andrew. Peter wished that there was sound on the footage.

He watched the next scene in complete silence. He saw _her_ come into the room: Mary Jane. He set one of his fingers on the screen where her image was. A few seconds later, he watched as she shot the nurse, and pulled away his finger away, closing his eyes momentarily.

Next, Mary Jane had Harry at gunpoint, and he watched as she shot his best friend in the head.

"Harry!" he yelled at the screen, and then clamped his mouth shut, realizing where he was.

Several people in dark grey suits came into the hospital room a moment later, escorting Felicia out. Andrew jumped out of the window, Peter assumed onto his glider. Mary Jane had Harry's dead body slumped over her shoulder and followed Andrew out of the window. The video stopped after this.

"Mr. Parker! Great news!" Captain Winchester yelled as he came into the room, leaving the door ajar behind him. "A witness was able to identify one of the people in the hospital room. Does the name Felicia Hardy mean anything to you?"

Peter stared up at him, still unable to process the image of Harry getting shot in the head. "She- uh- what?" he looked up at the Captain.

Captain Winchester gave him a pitying look, and patted Peter's shoulder. "Don't worry Mr. Parker, the NYPD is doing everything they can to locate your son and the people responsible for this. In fact, I'm sure Spider-Man is too!"

"Thanks, Captain," Peter said hollowly.

"Well, give us a call if you find anything else out." He handed Peter his card and then escorted him out of the room.

"Peter!" Lila said loudly, walking swiftly over to him. "Are you okay? You look a little sick," she commented.

"All units put an APB out on Felicia Hardy. Unknown if suspect or victim. Black hair, green eyes. 5'3'' about 120 lbs." Peter and Lila both turned towards Captain Winchester as he spoke into his radio.

"I'm fine. Let's get you home." Peter ushered her out of the building.

Lila stopped walking once they were out of the building and out on the steps. "Peter wait, they were talking about Felicia in there. What's going on?"

Peter looked up and saw several officers coming out of the building. "Can we please talk about this in the car?"

"But, what about-"

" _Please_ , Lila," he pleaded.

She looked unconvinced but nodded her head and followed him down the rest of the steps. "Uh, you don't look so good. I should probably drive," she commented.

Peter was about object, but decided to hand her the keys. "Sure, sure." He got into the passenger seat.

They sat in silence for several minutes. Peter wasn't exactly sure what to even say to her. What had the police even told her? Had she told the police anything about Felicia? No, she hadn't found out about Felicia being involved until Peter was in the room too...

He heard Lila give a small laugh next to him and he turned his head towards her. "What's so funny?"

"Sorry. It's nothing," she said awkwardly. "It's just, you're shaking your leg and you reminded me of someone I work with. Sorry," she said again. Her eyes widened slightly and she looked like she regretted saying that.

"Oh." Peter stopped abruptly.

"Peter, what were they saying about Felicia in there?"

Sighing loudly, he rested his head against the head rest behind him. "I'm not sure exactly what's going on, but she could possibly know where my son is."

"Isn't she staying at your house?" she asked.

He turned his head towards her again. "Lila, you can't tell the police about that."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Why wouldn't you mention that to them?"

"It would just raise more questions and honestly it's not something I want them to find out about. I'd rather them focus on finding my son," he said seriously.

He couldn't have the police snooping around inside of his house. If they found anything that linked his family to Spider-Man, his secret could get out.

The image of Harry being shot clouded his mind again. He had _just_ gotten his friend back. It hadn't even been a full day.

"I'm sorry about your son. I'm sure you'll find him." She patted his arm.

Peter just nodded. They would be at her house in a few minutes and he really wanted to get back home. Violet would be getting home about now, and he was sure his Aunt May was worried.

"What happened on that video recording?" she asked. "You really don't look so good. The Captain said that there were multiple murders. Did it show what happened?"

"Yes," he said in a clipped tone. "A person came into my son's room and shot and killed two people in front of him. Then proceeded to take my son and Felicia. I don't know what happened after that." He was sure that the murders were going to be public knowledge soon anyways.

"I see," she said, pulling into her driveway. "Well, like I said, it will all work out in the end." She put her hand on Peter's arm. "Let me know if you need _anything_."

He didn't particularly like the way she looked at him when she said that.

Lila exited the car just as Peter did. "Bye, Peter." She waved at him and walked up to her house. He got into the driver's seat and took off towards home.

Peter pulled into his driveway, happy to see Aunt May was still there. Violet was sure to be home from school by now, and he wanted someone to be home to let her know what was going on. He would have to disappoint her _again_ though. Let her know her brother was missing _again_.

That he lost his best friend _again_.

"Fuck!" Peter punched the steering wheel out of anger, effectively breaking it.

"Shit." he cursed as pieces of the steering wheel fell to the floor of the car.

Ignoring the broken steering wheel, he went into his house where he was greeted by Aunt May and Violet.

Violet ran up to him first. "What happened?" she asked.

Peter knew that he was going to have to tell Violet about Mary Jane. If she found out that he had hidden this from her, she would never forgive him. Aunt May deserved to know the truth of what was going on as well.

"Why don't you both come into the living room. We have a lot to talk about."

* * *

"Our son, Harry," Mary Jane said.

Harry stared at her, dumbfounded. "Our s-son?" he repeated. "MJ, you're confused."

"No, Harry, listen to me. I know it sounds crazy, and I don't know why you don't remember, but we have a son. He's four years old. You named him Norman Osborn. We call him Normie. They're keeping him here, Harry. Andrew and Normie need to get out of this place!" she practically yelled.

"But- how- this is... crazy." Harry shook his head.

Harry saw the yellow flash of the chip near her head and knew she had been activated again. "Come with me." she commanded as she walked towards the doors, all emotion gone from her face.

"Wait, what about- do I really have-"

"Come with me, and you _might_ get your questions answered." She held the door open. Harry hesitantly walked back and through and followed her.

They got back to the room he had woken up in. Stryker was just releasing Felicia from her chair. Two men in grey suits were cleaning the blood from the ground from the people that Scarlet had shot.

"Harry, you look upset. Did your talk not go as planned?" Stryker smiled at him. He had a device in his hands, about the size of a cell phone, with many small buttons on it. "You can have your goodbye with Ms. Hardy here, and then you're mine."

"Is it true?" Harry practically whispered. "She said I- it's impossible but she said we had a son. Except I have no memories of this, so I don't know what to believe."

Stryker's eyebrows pulled together. "This is... true."

"Then why the hell don't I remember any of it!?" Harry yelled. Suddenly there was an intense pain in his head and he instantly dropped to his knees. "Arghhhh!"

The pain stopped quickly, and he had to catch his breathe. He looked up at Stryker who was tapping the device in his hands. "You do not have the right to raise your voice to me, Harry. Especially with the fact that you yourself had requested we erase your son from your memories."

"I asked? But... that doesn't make sense," Harry said, mostly to himself. He looked up at Felicia, and it seemed she was even surprised about hearing this news. Her mouth was slighting hanging open and her eyes kept drifting from himself to Scarlet.

"Am I to assume you want to see him?" Stryker laughed.

Harry looked over towards Stryker. "Would you even let me?"

"You know how I like to keep family together Harry," Stryker commented. "Besides, the little bugger has been asking for you lately. I've nearly run out of excuses for you."

Stryker whispered something to Scarlet that Harry was unable to hear. Scarlet then walked over towards Felicia and hoisted her out of the chair by her arm. "Come on, let's go." She ushered her.

"You can meet your son in a moment, Harry. For now, say your _goodbyes_ to Felicia," Stryker said as he left the room.

Scarlet led the both of them back to the courtyard. She shoved Felicia passed the doors, but let Harry walk on through. She shut the doors behind them, giving them privacy. Felicia walked over towards the flower patch right away.

"I don't even know what to say," Harry admitted. "I wish there was some way I could fix all of this. I don't want any of you to suffer here with me. If there was anything I could do, I would do it."

"I know you would, Harry." Felicia smiled. "I tried to get us out, too. I mean, I did get that chip out of your head. Too bad they already put another one back in."

"You didn't know anything about my son did you?" Harry questioned, walking closer to Felicia.

"No," she whispered. "I wish I could say congratulations." she nervously laughed.

Harry shook his head. "This isn't right. None of this is right!" he punched the grey brick building, causing a few bricks to fall to the ground.

This is all my fault. Everything is my fault, Harry thought to himself.

"Daddy?"

Harry turned to the sound of the child's voice.

The boy was small, he wasn't sure what size was normal for a four year old, but he looked to be just over three feet tall. He had shaggy dirty blonde hair, that was styled into a small mohawk. Harry let out a small gasp when he saw his own icy blue eyes staring back at him from the child.

Harry felt a small shove and turned his head behind him. Felicia slightly widened her eyes and pushed him forward again. "Go talk to him, Harry," she urged.

Harry gulped and walked up to the- his son.

"Hey there... Normie," Harry started awkwardly.

"I missed you, Daddy!" the boy said as he wrapped his arms around Harry's leg. Harry looked behind him at Felicia, unsure of what to do. She gestured for Harry to hug him back, while she was unable to hold back a smile.

"Uh me- me too buddy." Harry patted him on the back. "Do you remember the last time that you saw me?" he questioned. How often had Stryker allowed them to be together? Was it Harry or the Goblin that the boy had met...?

The young boy shook his head. "No but it's been a really long time! You always tell me about your day and about your missions and about... about when you were a kid too!" He beamed.

Harry nodded to the kid, and then kneeled down to his level. "I'm sorry that I haven't been around lately."

"That's all right. You're busy." Normie smiled. "Look! I lost my first tooth a few days ago!" He smiled and pointed to the hole.

"Oh, wow!" Felicia said loudly. Harry hadn't noticed she had came up from behind him. "That's kind of young to lose your first tooth, though." She cocked her head.

Normie shrugged and looked towards the ground. "Yeah, it got lose when I messed up during my training."

"Your training?" Harry repeated, looking back at Felicia.

Harry heard static and the speaker next to the camera buzzed. "You have two minutes," he heard Stryker say through the speaker.

"Mhm!" the boy smiled at him. "I want you to come see me more often," he said suddenly.

Harry didn't answer him. He got up from the ground and then whispered to Felicia. "He's four fucking years old and Stryker has already got my son in training." Harry felt a rage that he had never felt before.

"He can't stay here Felicia!" Harry began pacing.

"What's wrong, Daddy?" The boy looked up at him.

Harry began nervously scratching at his wrist when he felt his glider control wristband. "No fucking way," he said to himself. The button on the wristband was glowing, showing that the glider was less than 5 miles away. It was on the island with them!

"What is it?" Felicia asked.

Harry pressed the button on his wrist. "Felicia, we have less than a minute, but Stryker didn't take my fucking glider wristband off. It's on the island with us!" he said in excitement.

Comprehension dawned on her face. "Harry! You can go home!" she practically shouted.

Harry looked down at his son and back at Felicia. There was no way he was going to leave when he still had Andrew and Mary Jane here.

"Felicia, I'm not leaving," he said softly. "Two grown adults cannot ride on that glider all the way back to the United States."

"Then I'll stay here!" she said seriously. "You can get out!" she was practically angry at him.

The glider was there quicker than Harry thought. Someone in the building had to have seen it coming over this way.

Without thinking, Harry picked up Normie and thrust him into Felicia's arm. He ripped the wristband off of himself and secured it onto her arm.

"Felicia, take him with you. Take him to Peter. Tell him what happened," Harry said. He heard the siren start to go off inside the building.

"Harry, I'm not leaving you!" Felicia screamed as he pushed her onto the glider.

"Please, Felicia!" he yelled.

He looked behind him and the doors were starting to open. Scarlet or Stryker would be coming through those doors any second.

"Harry..." Felicia pleaded.

Scarlet burst through the doors.

"Felicia... GO!" Harry yelled.


	19. Chapter 19

Peter came down the stairs and sighed at the sight before him. Violet had fallen asleep on the couch next to Aunt May. After over an hour of explaining everything that was happening, and with the news that her mother was still alive except had an evil alter ego, Violet had a break down. She had cried herself exhausted and ended up falling asleep.

Aunt May carefully wormed her way out from under Violet and got up off the couch. Violet didn't react to the movement and stayed asleep.

"Sorry if I woke you." Peter said solemnly. He noticed the puffiness around Aunt May's eyes.

"Peter," she shook her head. "I can't even begin to know what you're going through."

She laid her hand on the side of his face, wiping away a tear that he didn't even know was there.

"What I have to focus on now is getting them back. Andrew, Mary Jane, and Felicia." he said in a strong voice. "I just have to." He had already failed Harry. _Again._

Aunt May didn't answer him, but nodded. She said her goodbyes to Peter, gathered up her belongings, and quietly went out the front door.

He walked over to the couch and gently scooped up Violet into his arms. She snuggled into his arm as he brought her up the stairs. He pushed her bedroom door open and then gently put her down on the bed, pulling the covers over her.

Peter's mind was drained and empty. He unconsciously made his way back to his bedroom and let himself fall onto his bed. Not bothering to change, he fell asleep in the clothes he was wearing.

The heavy knocking on the door caused him to jump out of bed. He opened his eyes widely, surprised by the sudden change in light. He felt like he had only laid down for several minutes, but it was already morning. He heard the pitter-patter of rain on his roof.

Peter rushed down the stairs and grumpily opened the door. He did a double take and then shook his head, unsure if he was still sleeping or not.

Standing in front of him was Harry Osborn. He was wearing a dark grey suit.

"Ha- Harry?" Peter managed to gasp out.

Harry walked around Peter and into the house. "Yeah. Who else did you expect?"

"I thought... I saw you get shot on the tape the police showed me. You got shot in the head." Peter muttered. "Harry, how are you alive right now?

Harry looked taken aback for a moment, but recovered quickly.

"I healed," he said with a shrug.

But Peter wasn't convinced.

"Look, I'm fine," Harry said emphatically.

Peter quickly wrapped his arms around him in a hug before his friend disappeared again. "This is crazy, man. I thought you were dead, I thought-"

Peter let him go quickly, remembering how jumpy Harry had been to anyone touching him or being too close while he was recovering from the chip being removed. "Oops sorry, I forgot about-" but he stopped because this time Harry hadn't even jumped back or even flinched.

"Sorry about what?" Harry asked, but didn't wait for an answer nonetheless.

He began walking around Peter's home, looking around as if searching for something. An uneasy feeling gnawed in the back of Peter's mind as he watched his friend.

"Is anyone else here?" Harry asked nonchalantly, opening up the bathroom door and peering in.

"N-no," Peter answered.

Violet was asleep in her room, but she was a heavy sleeper and it was a Saturday. She wouldn't be up this early, and Harry was acting strange, even for himself. Harry glanced into the living room and his eyes landed on the rumpled up blanket that was laying on the couch.

"Has anyone been here recently?" he asked, pointing at the blanket.

"Harry, what's with the 21 questions?" Peter forced out a laugh.

Harry shrugged. "So has there?"

"I told you yesterday morning that my cousin was staying here this week because he lost his job, remember?" Peter smiled.

"Oh yeah, that's right." Harry nodded and then walked into the kitchen.

Something was definitely wrong with Harry. Peter didn't even have a cousin.

"What about Felicia? When was the last time she's been here? Has she talked to you today?" he pressed.

Peter leaned in the doorway of the kitchen. "A few days ago, Har. She won't be coming here though, I kicked her out."

"Well, let me know if she shows up. Immediately. She is currently wanted by the police," Harry said as he walked towards the front door.

"Yeah, because she was in the room when you got shot by Mary Jane." Peter raised his voice. "Harry what's going on? Where's Andrew?"

Harry stopped and walked back over to Peter. He put his hand on Peter's arm. "It will all work out in the end. Let me know if you need anything, Peter."

Peter's stomach dropped. That sounded so familiar. That's when he noticed Harry's eyes. "Harry, your eyes are back to normal."

"What are you talking about?" Harry let go of his arm and backed away.

"Yesterday I noticed they were blue and green, today they're just blue. I didn't want to say anything to you just in case it upset you or something," Peter commented.

Harry made it very obvious he was trying to look anywhere but at Peter now.

"I've got to go. Call this number if Felicia contacts you," Harry said as he shoved a piece of paper at Peter.

"Where are you going now!?" Peter nearly yelled. "Harry, it's dangerous for you to be out there right now."

"I'm fine," Harry repeated, smiling.

Peter glanced at his teeth and frowned. Harry's front teeth were usually sharp, but they now appeared to be normal. Something was definitely not right here.

"Okay. I'll let you know if Felicia talks to me or whatever." Peter nodded and backed away, letting Harry leave without another word.

Something isn't right with Harry, Peter thought to himself. Maybe I should follow him, make sure he's okay...

His thoughts were cut short as Violet came down the stairs, still in her pajamas.

Close call, he thought.

"Morning, Dad," she yawned. "Who were you talking to?" she asked, pulling out a gallon of milk from the fridge.

Peter went to grab the Lucky Charms from the top of the cabinet, but right as he went to pick them up, Violet shot out her web and the box of cereal flew right into her hand. She smiled smugly at him.

"Friend from work." Peter chuckled. "He was worried that I had missed a meeting," he said offhandedly. Violet nodded and got her breakfast ready.

"So, you're up early," Peter commented, sitting down at the table as she did. "It's Saturday, you know."

Violet shrugged. "Yeah, you and I both got a good night's rest. Now we can focus on how to rescue Andrew," She smiled and continued to eat her cereal. "and Mom."

Peter sighed. "How did I know?" He shook his head. "You know as well as I do you're not coming with me for this."

She put down her spoon and pushed the bowl away. "Dad, this is serious. I know you're going to make a big speech about how you'd only make me stay home to protect me, but you know as well as I do that I'm safer with you."

"Vi..." he began.

"And with Felicia missing too, you're going to need all the help you can get," she pointed out.

"You're ten years old."

"You're thirty." She smiled and pulled her cereal bowl back to her, finishing up the remaining scoops.

"Well- yeah- that doesn't-" Peter faltered on his words.

Violet got up from the table, putting her empty bowl into the sink. "To conclude my argument, if you don't let me come with, I'll just follow you anyways."

"No, Vi." His voice grew more stern. "I don't want you to- I don't want you to see your mother like... that."

Just then the front door flew open and Peter was out of his chair before Violet could answer him. He positioned himself in front of Violet. The front door slammed shut.

"Who's there?" he called out, ready for an attack.

"Felicia! It's Felicia." he heard her call out in an exhausted voice.

Peter turned his head back at Violet for a moment, mouthing the words: "stay here."

"Felicia, what the hell is going on?" Peter nearly growled out at her, clearly irritated. He turned the corner out of the kitchen and saw her standing next to the front door, completely soaked. That's when Peter got a good look of her.

With one of her hands she was holding her face, which was slowing leaking blood through her fingers. Her other hand seemed to be holding something behind her back. Their was a large rip on the side of her pants which was also bleeding. Her body was shaking, either from the cold or blood loss, he didn't know.

His anger at her suddenly evaporated and all he saw was the friend that had been helping him out the last couple of months.

"What happened? Who did this to you?" he said as he quickly walked up to her, grabbing her hand away from her face.

She surprisingly didn't push him away as he checked out the wound on her cheek.

"Kind of sucks I wasn't granted exceptional healing factors like all of you," she laughed humorlessly.

There was about a three inch gash on the side of her face, starting from slightly above her eyebrow and trailing down her cheek.

"Come with me." He grabbed her hand and was about to pull her into the bathroom to stitch up the cut when she pulled him back.

"W-wait," she said hesitantly.

"Felicia, that cut is pretty deep and I need to stitch it up. You can't go to a hospital right now. The police are looking for you."

She looked slightly shocked at that news, but didn't question it.

"Not to mention I haven't even seen the damage on your leg." Peter shook his head. "Violet, can you get the first aid out for me, please? And I'll need the materials to stitch up a wound." he added on.

That's when Peter saw the movement behind her. His eyes glanced in that direction, not unnoticed by Felicia.

"He's been through a lot today," she said to Peter.

His eyes widened a little. "He? Felicia who-"

She took the young boy by the hand and brought him in front of her. Felicia winced as the boy clung to her bloodied leg.

"Felicia, who's kid is that?" Peter repeated.

The boy hesitantly looked up at him and Peter couldn't help the small gasp escape him. The eyes... his icy blue eyes. They were an exact replica of Harry's.

"No way..." Peter whispered.

He looked up at Felicia, who looked even paler than before, but she nodded to him as if she could read his mind.

"He can't be- that's impossible..." Peter trailed off.

But was it impossible? Harry had been on that island for ten years.

"Oh, who's this?" Violet questioned, walking into the front room.

"Is he hurt too?" Violet asked worriedly.

"No, he's fine." Felicia said, gently taking the boys arm off her leg. "In fact, Violet, can you please bring him upstairs while I get this under control?"

Felicia gestured to her face.

Violet looked up at Peter, silently asking if it was okay. He nodded once, mouth still hanging slightly open at the abrupt news. She took a few steps towards the boy before slightly lowering herself to his level.

"Hi there...?" she looked up at Felicia.

"Normie," she answered.

"Hi there, Normie," Violet smiled at the boy.

Normie clung onto Felicia's leg again, causing her to inhale sharply.

Violet looked up at Felicia who gave her an encouraging smile, despite the obvious pain she was in.

"Do you want to come upstairs and check out my brother's room?" she asked. "I bet he has stuff in there that you'd want to play with." she coaxed him.

Normie let go of Felicia's leg and looked up at her. "Can I go play, Licia?"

Her nod was all it took, and he took off towards the stairs, not even waiting for Violet. She let out a small laugh and ran after him.

Peter looked towards the stairs and back at Felicia.

"He's not... yours... right?" Peter asked, trying not to sound rude.

Felicia scrunched her face up.

"No," she said, walking towards the bathroom where Violet had left all the necessary items they needed.

Peter quickly washed his hands and got to work. Felicia ripped the rest of the pant leg off, just about the cut on her leg.

"I don't even want to look at it, so don't tell me how bad it is. Just fix it," she demanded, running her hands through her hair.

The gash was just above her knee, maybe two inches longer than the slice on her face. He lightly put his fingers near the wound to assess the damage.

"This looks bad," was all Peter said to her. The wound was rough and jagged, sure to leave a scar.

He cleaned around the wound and got to stitching it up. Felicia only winced every now and then.

"Thanks," she said nonchalantly.

"Mmm…hmm," he answered, concentrating on finishing up the leg wound.

"So uh, the kid- Normie," he corrected himself, "is he the reason Harry is looking for you?"

"What do you mean?" Felicia inquired sharply.

With the leg wound sterilized and treated, he moved on to cleaning the wound on her face. "Well, he is Harry's right?"

"Yes," she said in a clipped tone.

"He was here earlier today. He was looking for you and he didn't seem very happy. Something isn't right about him though, maybe a side effect of the chip, or maybe-"

"Parker," she cut him off. "Harry couldn't have been here earlier today. That's impossible."

Peter looked uncertain. "Uh, I'm pretty sure he was." He laughed nervously. "I didn't just imagine him here. He was a little different though. Physically, too."

"Like- Goddammit, Parker!" she flinched away from him, "That stings like hell!" she yelled, then composed herself again.

"Sorry, but I want to make sure this doesn't get infected," he said seriously and got back to work. "But, for one, his eyes were normal. Just blue. When he was at my house they were blue and green."

"I noticed that at the hospital," she commented.

He nodded. "Also, when he smiled, his teeth weren't sharp." Peter shrugged. "Not that that's a bad thing but..."

"But that wasn't Harry," Felicia said to him.

"What are you talking about?" Peter raised an eyebrow questioningly at her.

"Harry was with me. In Columbia," Felicia answered. "I don't know who that was, but it wasn't Harry."

"It was the shifter!" Peter said suddenly.

It all made sense! The way Harry was acting, the looking around as if he had never been there, the information that Harry just went with, it all made sense. Because it wasn't actually him!

"Shifter?" Felicia asked, curious.

"The one who kept changing themselves to look like Gwen," Peter started, "I think we can super glue this cut on your face. It will help with the scarring."

"Good, thanks," she rolled her eyes. "So you think that this, shifter-person was in your house today? Why?"

"Looking for you." He looked into her eyes. "They didn't exactly say why, though. You _did_ shoot them at the bank. Sorry, but this might hurt."

Peter glued the wound shut. Felicia inhaled sharply, squeezing his leg.

"Sorry."

He lightly held the skin together while it dried. Felicia looked down towards the floor as he let go of her face. She seemed deep in thought.

"Just let that sit for a couple minutes longer. I don't want it to open up because then we will have to re-clean and re-glue it," Peter instructed her.

"Thanks, Peter. I know you told me to never come to your house again, but I had to. We had nowhere else to go."

"That doesn't matter anymore, I'm sorry I kicked you out." Peter laughed lightly. "I know you were keeping that from me because you cared about my safety." he smirked.

Felicia pushed his shoulder. "Yeah, right." She rolled her eyes again.

"What happened to you, Felicia?" he said suddenly. "Between the hospital and now. What happened?"

Laughter erupted from upstairs and Peter cocked his head upwards. Felicia sighed and looked up too.

"Once again, you're not going to like what you hear," Felicia began, Peter looked away from the ceiling and focused on her eyes again. "Let me tell you what my life has been like the last 24 hours."

* * *

"Felicia... GO!" Harry yelled.

Felicia turned around on the glider, getting ready to fly off, when a sudden weight jerked the glider back.

"You are not getting away a second time." Scarlet's voice was cold. Felicia looked down and Scarlet had grabbed the glider, slowly pulling it down.

Not even a second later, Harry had come up behind Scarlet and tackled her, effectively causing her to let go of the glider. Felicia watched in awe as Scarlet went into full combat mode, kicking Harry square in the chest sending him back a few feet, just enough time for her to lunge at the glider again.

"Crap," Felicia said. She flew the glider up about twenty feet, a smug smile on her face for only a moment before the same weight began pulling the glider down.

"Mommy can fly!" the little boy who did not understand the seriousness of the situation giggled.

"Yeah, I kind of forgot that." Felicia mentally kicked herself.

Scarlet had clung onto the wing, causing the glider to fling down towards the ground. A bright orange flash caught Felicia's attention as she attempted to cradle the boy close to her arms so he wouldn't get harmed in the fall to the ground.

The glider crashed into the metal gate, causing it to fall, just as Scarlet let go. Felicia tumbled to the ground, holding the boy close to her so he wouldn't get injured. The amusement in his face was gone and he now looked confused and worried.

Felicia looked up to see Scarlet putting out fire on the bottom of her suit. So that was the orange flash she had seen, Harry must have shot out his fire at her. Looking back towards the glider, she saw that it was stuck in the side of the fallen fence.

She shakily stood up and set the boy down behind her. "Stay behind me. Don't move. Don't go to Scarlet," she commanded as she started pulling the glider from the fence.

"You have no right to tell him anything," Scarlet growled, stalking towards her. Felicia pulled harder at the glider, nearly freeing it, but then there was a white hot pain against her face and she fell to the ground, holding her face.

She looked up just in time to see Scarlet above her with another throwing star in her hand, which lasted only momentarily as a blur came rushing behind her, crashing into her for a second time.

The little boy started to cry. He probably had never seen his parents fight each other before, only other people.

"Mommy, Daddy! Stop!" Normie pleaded, hanging onto Felicia's arm.

"Shhhh. It's okay," Felicia attempted to console him. She felt bad about freeing her arm from his grasp, but she needed to in order to free the rest of the glider.

As she pulled it free, she watched Harry and Scarlet bounced back and forth, Scarlet trying to strike Harry, but Harry trying to simply dodge her attacks and distract her. It was like watching blurs of red and black dance around each other.

"Anytime now, Felicia!" Harry roared.

She didn't answer him, but turned around to grab Normie, and he wasn't behind her.

"Normie?" she hissed. He had walked over to the dancing blurs. "Normie! Get back!"

Scarlet had flung Harry through the air, right towards the small boy.

"Move!" she yelled to the boy. There was no way she could make it to him in time for her to move him.

But just as Harry's body was about to make contact with Normie, the boy disappeared. Harry's body hit the ground with a thud. He got up quickly, looking to see if he had hurt his son. His eyes landed behind Felicia, and she quickly looked behind her.

Normie was standing right behind her.

"Daddy! You almost smushed me!" the boy yelled accusingly.

Harry stared at him in awe, not noticing Scarlet's approaching figure. Normie disappeared again and landed behind Harry.

"Stop, Mommy!" the boy pleaded.

Harry turned around quickly. Scarlet was ten feet from him, with Harry's bowie knife in her hand. Scarlet glared hard at the small boy.

"Move," she commanded.

Felicia watched as the boy held his hand up in the air, pointed towards Scarlet.

"If you dare-" Scarlet started before she froze in the middle of her sentence, and stopped moving.

"Normie, what... what did you do?" Harry asked suddenly.

Felicia knew Harry had to stop Scarlet in order for them to escape, but he didn't want Mary Jane harmed.

"Mommy's okay!" the boy smiled but then frowned. "She's going to be awful mad at me though. I'll have to do extra training this week." he pouted.

Felicia knelt down next to the boy, Harry stood next to her. "But, what did you do to her? Why can't she move? How did you move so fast before?"

Normie looked back and forth between Felicia and Harry.

"Daddy, you know she's okay! I'm small so I can't make it last long." He looked sad before speaking again. "Don't worry. She'll be unfrozen in a few minutes! I just didn't want her to hurt you again." He looked towards Harry.

"Thanks, buddy." Harry ruffled his hair and then looked back at Scarlet. "You have to go now, before she can move again. She won't be able to tell the direction you flew in if you go now!"

Harry ran over to Scarlet and grabbed the knife from her hands before running back to them. Felicia stood up and this time Harry knelt down towards Normie.

"I don't know when we'll see each other next. I hope soon." Harry told his son.

Felicia frowned at the sadness in Harry's voice.

Harry continued, "Stay with Felicia, she'll keep you safe. She's bringing you to my best friend Peter. He's a good guy."

Harry smiled and then Felicia saw a yellow flash near Harry's head.

It all happened in a second, the smile on Harry's face instantly turned to crazed anger. The knife in his hand plunged into Felicia's leg and pulled down, causing her to cry out in pain as she pulled Normie behind her.

"No, Daddy!" Normie cried out, as he reached his hand forwards and Harry froze in place, the same as Scarlet.

"I'm so sorry." was all Felicia was able to say to Harry's frozen figure as she scooped the small boy up and climbed onto the glider.

With her face and leg bleeding, and a four year old boy in her arms, she made her way back to New York City.


	20. Chapter 20

Peter and Felicia had moved into his living room after she had explained to him what happened on the island, and who Normie's mother was.

"You're sure that he's hers?" Peter repeated, referring to Normie and Mary Jane.

Felicia clicked her tongue in annoyance.

"Yes, Parker," she replied. "Stryker told us so. He had no reason to lie about it. And Mary Jane and I are the only female soldiers there that I know of, so if he's not mine, process of elimination says that he is her kid."

"It's just one thing after another isn't it," Peter commented with a forced laugh. "I find out my fiancée is alive, but also that Stryker has turned her into a dangerous weapon. Harry is also alive and also a dangerous weapon, but we manage to get him back only to lose him again. Then there is a shape-shifter out there that can imitate anyone; and a crazy guy that likes money and wearing fish bowls on his head. Oh yeah, and let's not forget that there's my son; who turned his back on our family and joined Stryker's team."

Peter took a deep breath before continuing

"And now I find out that my best friend and my fiancée had a child together while they were on Stryker's island? What am I supposed to do about this?" he yelled.

"What?" a voice questioned from across the room.

Peter swiveled his head and let out a frustrated sigh. Violet was at the bottom of the stairs, apparently listening to the end of their conversation.

"Normie is... Mom and Harry's...?" Violet questioned.

Peter and Felicia glanced at each other quickly.

"I was going to tell you, Violet. I literally just found out myself," Peter replied after a pause. "I'm actually still trying to process the information."

"Ten years away from you is a pretty long time, Parker," Felicia commented as she sneered at Peter.

Peter narrowed his eyes at Felicia but said nothing, biting his tongue.

"I have another brother," Violet said softly, more to herself than anything.

"It would appear so," Peter said as he crossed his arms.

Felicia sniffed derisively and stood from the couch.

"Lose the attitude, Parker," Felicia reprimanded him. "This isn't Normie's fault. It's not theirs, either. You know full well that they have been under the influence of those control chips. It was probably Stryker's idea more than theirs."

Peter sighed and uncrossed his arms. "I know, I know."

Violet ran up to Peter and hugged his waist.

"Can he stay with us here for right now, Dad? Please!?" she asked practically shouting.

Peter's eyes widened and he opened his mouth to say something but no words came out. Violet looked up at him expectantly.

"Actually, I was going to talk to you about a... delicate situation," Felicia interrupted. "Stryker's people are going to be looking for Normie and me, and let's not forget I'm also wanted by the police. Long story short, we can't stay here."

Felicia glanced over at Violet before continuing. "But, you two probably shouldn't stay here either. They'll come looking for us here, and then there's the shifter who already came here. They'll know we've been here it won't be safe for you."

Felicia looked back towards Peter.

Peter seemed to think about it for a few moments.

"How much does Normie know about all of- Oh!" Peter started to ask before letting out a startled gasp.

Normie was suddenly standing right across the couch from them. But Peter swore that Normie hadn't been there a moment ago. The child started to giggle.

"What just..." Peter trailed off as Normie once again seemed to disappear.

A second later he was back in the same spot in the living room, except he had a pop tart in his hand.

"Can I have this?" Normie asked as he held the pop tart up, looking towards Felicia.

Felicia smiled at him and nodded her head. Normie peeled off the wrapper and scarfed down the food.

"What just happened?" Peter tried again.

"Normie, would you like to explain to Peter here what you can do?" Felicia encouraged him.

Normie nodded vigorously. "I can run really really fast if I want to! I can also slow people or things down so much that they basically stop moving!"

Normie bounced around excitedly. "Except I need to practice more. I started with only being able to use my powers for a few seconds, now they work for minutes!"

Peter turned to Felicia angrily. "Great. So he could leave here any second with Violet and we wouldn't even be able to stop him."

Normie scrunched his face in confusion. "I can't carry Violet. She's too big."

Felicia whacked Peter on the shoulder and pulled him into the kitchen.

"Stay there, Normie, we'll be back in a minute," Felicia said to him as they left.

Basically shoving Peter into the kitchen, Felicia stared at him, crossing her arms.

"What the hell is your problem, Parker?" she asked angrily.

"What isn't my problem right now? They seem to be stacking up." He replied as he stared hard back at her. "I don't get how you think I should be okay with this."

"You selfish asshole," Felicia insulted him as she shook her head in disgust. "Normie is four. He does not deserve to be treated this way. He is not some weapon Stryker designed to infiltrate your house."

Felicia sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, but-" Peter began.

"No. You listen to me right now, got it?" Felicia cut him off. "That kid out there is your fiancee's child. He is Harry's child. They did not do this to spite you Peter. We don't know the whole story behind it right now, but think about this. All his life, Normie has been living with the bad guys, and from what I had seen and heard from him, they treat him properly. What is he going to think if he's treated like crap by the good guys? By us?"

The corner of Peter's mouth twitched as he suppressed a smile. "Felicia, did you just refer to yourself as 'the good guy'?"

She went to whack him again, which Peter easily dodged this time.

"That's the last time you'll ever hear that from my mouth. Best not to mention it again." Felicia stated as she glared at him with mock anger.

"Okay. Okay." He held his hands up in surrender. Then he began talking again in hushed tones. "But seriously, do you think he poses any kind of threat to us?"

"I'm not dangerous," a small voice said from the kitchen entrance.

Peter and Felicia looked towards the voice. Normie was standing there self-consciously. A second later, Peter felt a weight and he looked down and Normie was hugging his leg.

"My Daddy said that you're his best friend. He said to stay with you and Licia," Normie said as before he let go of Peter's leg. "He talks about you the most, you know. I love hearing the stories about when you guys were kids too!"

The child such a big smile on his face that Peter couldn't help but to smile back. The resemblance between Harry and Normie was uncanny. The only difference he could really notice was that Harry never had his hair styled into a Mohawk; Harry's hair always had to be perfectly smoothed down.

"That's great, Normie." Peter said. "Can you let Felicia and I talk for one more minute?"

Normie nodded and was gone.

"So, I guess we need to get out of here, don't we?" Peter asked.

Felicia nodded. "Yes. I'd suggest Violet and you go pack a suitcase. We'll find a place to stay for now. I wouldn't plan on coming back here for at least a couple of weeks."

Peter didn't even question her. Peter went into the living room and explained the situation to Violet. They began packing.

Peter packed up some hoodies and other clothes. Obviously his Spidey suit and pager. He left the business suits; if there was a meeting he would have to cancel it for now. He also grabbed some bathroom supplies, snacks, and a blanket and pillow.

Peter went into Violet's room to see how she was doing. He shook his head as he saw what she had packed.

"Only you would bring homework on this type of trip," Peter laughed.

Violet had two suitcases. One was completely filled with her clothing. The other one had all her school supplies and books inside of it.

"Yeah, well. I'm assuming you'll call my school and say we are going on vacation or something like that? I can't get behind on my schoolwork," Violet said as she zipped the second suitcase shut. "Crap! I forgot one thing."

"Language!" Peter half-yelled as she ran past him into her brother's room.

He brought both of her suitcases downstairs and set them next to his.

"What the hell did you do to your car?" Felicia shook her head as she walked into the house. "The steering wheel is completely fucked up, we don't have time for this!"

Peter was about to open his mouth and explain when she put her hand up to stop him .

"Never mind, I'm just going to call a taxi," Felicia declared.

Violet came bounding down the stairs, holding Andrew's Deadpool plush in her arms. Peter raised his eyebrow.

"It's one of his favorite things. Well, that and his suit."

Peter didn't reply to that.

Felicia slammed her cell phone shut and shoved it into her pocket.

"The taxi will be here shortly." Felicia said. "Peter, call your aunt and tell her she should get out of the city for a couple of weeks. Out of the state would be better if possible."

Peter nodded and opened up his phone.

"Hello, Peter." Aunt May sounded exhausted.

"Hey, Aunt May. Listen, I don't have much time to explain. Please just listen to me. Violet and I are leaving town for a couple of weeks. We have some people that are probably after us and therefore you would be in danger too. I need you to leave the city for a couple of weeks." Peter explained hurriedly.

"A couple of weeks!?" Aunt May repeated, sounding much more alert now. "Peter, where am I supposed to go?"

"Uh- uh, hold on." Peter put the phone to his chest for a moment.

"Felicia, she should come with us. That way if we need to hurry up and leave where ever we're going, she could watch Normie. And that way I know where she is and that she's safe," Peter said.

Felicia deliberated for a moment.

"Yeah, you're right," Felicia agreed, "Tell her to pack up and we'll be there shortly."

Peter mouthed 'thanks' to Felicia and put the phone back up to his ear.

"Okay, Aunt May. Pack up quickly and we will be there shortly," he explained. "You'll be staying with us for the next couple of weeks."

"What's going-" Aunt May started to ask.

"No time to explain. Go pack up your things and keep your phone near you," Peter interrupted her.

"Okay, Peter. I will," Aunt May agreed.

Peter hung up with Aunt May and before he knew it the taxi had arrived.

"Well, here we go..." he said.

They ended up taking a total of three different taxis. Felicia was worried that they were being followed, so she had everyone get out and called up a new taxi. Twice.

Seeing as the place they had gone to was only an hour away, three taxis seemed a bit excessive. The rides were awkward, nobody wanting to say anything they weren't supposed to made for a very quiet ride.

Peter unloaded everyone's luggage once they pulled into the hotel they were staying at. Felicia paid for a full week; two rooms that connected with two bedrooms in each room. Peter was going to pay for the second week.

"I've never been to a hotel before!" Violet practically giggled with delight as she grabbed Normie's hand and lead him to their room. It was nice, seeing her truly smile again.

It didn't take long for everybody to settle down and unpack. Felicia sat at the table, making a list of things that Normie and herself were going to need. They weren't able to bring along any of their possessions.

In one of the rooms, Aunt May got the queen sized bed, while Violet and Normie took the two twin sized beds in the other bedroom. In the adjoining hotel room, Felicia of course, took the queen sized bed while Peter ended up taking one of the twin sizes.

"Peter, Normie, come here," Felicia called them.

Normie was already next to Felicia by the time Peter got to the room. He shook his head, did the kid have to use his powers all the time like that?

"Peter, I made a list of stuff for you to pick up for Normie and I," Felicia said, shoving the list into his hand.

"Uh, what?" Peter stared at the list.

Toothbrush, toothpaste, hair brush, his eyes scanned the list and then his eyes got wide.

"What!? I am not picking those up!" he nearly shouted, trying to shove the list back at her.

"Oh, don't be such a baby about it." She got up from the table with her arms raised so he couldn't hand the list to her.

"Felicia, no."

"Peter, yes," she mocked.

They stared hard at each other for several moments.

"Fine, whatever." He stuffed the list into his pocket, grumbling.

Felicia took out her wallet and shoved several bills at him.

"This should cover it. Take Normie with you. He needs some new clothes," Felicia said.

Peter looked down at Normie quickly and back at Felicia. "Uh- I don't think that's such a good idea..."

"Oh, please please please!" Normie began jumping up and down. "I never get to pick out my own clothes!"

"You're not going to let me say no, are you?" Peter asked Felicia.

"Nope." She smiled sweetly at him.

"Fine." He turned around. "Normie, get your shoes back on, we're going shopping."

"Already done!"

Peter looked down and Normie was all set to go.

"Okay, great." He smiled uneasily at the kid. "Let's go."

* * *

Felicia smirked at Peter as he left, throwing her a glance that was supposed to look angry. Normie had insisted on holding his hand.

She went into the next room, checking on Violet and Aunt May. They were in the living room, just about to watch TV.

"I'm going to get right to the point," Felicia said, looking at Aunt May. "You're probably wondering who the little boy is, right?"

Aunt May shifted her eyes to Violet and then back to Felicia. "Violet told me that he's her brother. But... she said to let Peter or you explain."

Felicia crossed her arms. "Mary Jane and Harry are his parents. I'm not sure how this whole thing came to be, but it happened." She shrugged. "His name is Normie and he is four years old. He was born with powers, able to run at super speed. He can also, I don't know, stop time on a specific object or person if he wants to. Harry entrusted Normie's life with Peter and I for now."

"For now?" Aunt May asked.

"Yes. We're at this hotel so we can figure out a way to get them and Andrew back," Felicia replied. "We won't stop until we do."

"You seem pretty sure that that's possible." Aunt May raised her eyebrow.

"I am. I haven't talked details yet with Peter, but this is pretty much how it's going to go down. We're going to try to track down those three, and remove their chips. If that doesn't work, we go straight to the island. Either way, that place needs to get shut down. Styrker needs to pay for what he's done," Felicia said with venom in her voice.

Aunt May nodded her head. "Peter told me about what he's done."

"You seem to be taking all of this very well," Felicia commented.

Aunt May laughed. "Ever since I found out about Peter's secret all those years ago, not much surprises me anymore."

"Peter thinks Normie is a risk. He thinks Normie is only loyal to Stryker and that he is playing us," Felicia said.

Aunt May slightly narrowed her eyes. "Peter thinks that?"

Felicia nodded. "Yes. And I have to say, if you think that too, keep it to yourself. That kid has been through enough."

"I only met him a couple hours ago," Aunt May said. "But I do not believe a child like him could be bad. I believe Peter is just overreacting. He'll come around."

Violet turned the TV on and began flipping through the channels.

"Well, if that's it, I guess I'll just go back to my room," Felicia said as she stood awkwardly in the living room. She began walking from their room.

"Wait!" Violet called. Felicia stopped. " _The Walking Dead_ is on!"

"Never seen it." Felicia shrugged.

"Sit down and watch it with us." Aunt May smiled.

Felicia stared at them for a moment. "You want me to watch _The Walking Dead_ with you two?"

It wasn't like she had ever been cold towards them, but she wasn't always nice either. They were just... different from her.

"Yes, you'll like this show," Violet said. Felicia could tell the difference in Violet's emotions just in the events of today.

"Yeah, okay, I'll do that," Felicia said as she took the empty couch next to them.

It had been such a long time since she just... sat and watched TV. Like a normal person. She wouldn't believe it if you told her, but she had a genuine smile on her face the entire time.

* * *

William Stryker thought of himself as a fair person. Most of the people he tried to recruit were either sick or dying; They had nothing much else to live for. He gave them powers, abilities most people only dreamed of. The only thing he asked for in return was their loyalty. Sure, most of them were grateful for what he had done for them, but then there were those who weren't so grateful. Funny how it was the most valuable ones that wanted out of his project.

In the end, there were those that he had to chip for that extra guarantee that they would be obedient. His most successful team, Black Heart, had all of its members chipped. Except for Felicia Hardy, he thought, slightly bothered by this inconvenience. He was currently holding a canvas picture of Mary Jane from before she had become Scarlet.

"Not much of a house for the owner of a multi-billion dollar company, is it?" Stryker commented as he tossed the picture of Mary Jane onto the ground dismissively.

"Parker always liked simple things," the Goblin sneered.

He was standing in Peter's living room, arms crossed behind his back. Stryker nodded.

"Has Scarlet found anything at the aunt's house?" Stryker inquired.

Goblin pulled his phone out of his pocket and took a look at it.

"No, she and the new kid are on their way here right now, sir," he replied.

Stryker brought his hand up to his head and rubbed his eyes.

"Go check the upstairs rooms again." Stryker ordered Goblin.

"Yes, sir," Goblin answered before leaving to do as requested.

He needed more security on the island; that was the answer. The next thing he was going to invest in was an electric force field around the entire building. See if they try to escape then.

A few minutes later Scarlet and Andrew came in the front door and at the same time Goblin came back from checking the upstairs again.

"Nothing," Goblin reported as he shook his head.

"Same," Scarlet answered.

Andrew stood next to her, arms crossed.

"Looks like they packed up a bunch of stuff though. Clothes are missing, bathroom supplies..." Goblin said before he trailed off as he noticed the look of annoyance on Stryker's face.

"Does that give us any information on where they are now?" Stryker asked.

"No, sir," Goblin answered.

Stryker turned towards Andrew. "Do you know where they could have gone?"

"No, sir." Andrew shook his head.

"Goddammit!" Stryker yelled, slamming his fist on an end table. "We don't have any information on where they are, who knows if Felicia and Normie were even here to begin with!"

Scarlet cleared her throat.

"Normie was definitely here."

"How do you know that?" Stryker asked.

Scarlet walked over to the hallway and bent down towards the ground. "See these scuff marks on the wood flooring?" she pointed.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean it was him. Anyone's shoes can leave scuff marks." the Goblin said as he bent down next to her.

Scarlet shook her head. "Look closer. See how small bits of the floor have slight burn marks by the scuffing?"

"I still don't see anything," Goblin huffed.

"Closer," Scarlet repeated.

"Okay, what-" Goblin was cut off as Scarlet slammed his head into the floor.

Blood began pouring profusely out of his nose as Scarlet let out a single laugh. The bleeding stopped as abruptly as it began.

"Serves you right for doubting me." Scarlet said with a smirk as she stood up.

Goblin growled at her as he wiped the remaining blood from his face. Stryker watched the exchange in silence. These two were always doing things like this. As long as they got the job finished in the end, he didn't care how they did it.

"She's right though. There are slight burn marks near the scuffing. That happens when he gets too excited and just takes off. He was here," Goblin said as he got up from the floor as well.

"Scarlet, take Andrew and go outside. We will meet you in a moment. Andrew, say goodbye to your home one last time." Stryker said.

Andrew glanced around the room he was in. Without a word he followed Scarlet outside.

"Sir?" Goblin questioned as the other two shut the door behind them.

"You're sure there is absolutely nothing else in this house that is valuable to us, correct?" Stryker questioned.

"Correct," Goblin replied.

Stryker nodded. "Great." He smiled cruelly. "Now, burn the place to the ground."


	21. Chapter 21

"Look! Look! This shirt has Iron Man on it!" Normie bounced with excitement. "Can we get it?"

Normie took the shirt off the shelf and held it to his chest.

"Sure," Peter said dismissively.

His arms were currently full with clothes for Felicia and Normie and he was ready to leave.

"Aw, he is such a little angel," an elderly woman said as she grabbed a shirt from the same shelf.

"Uh-huh," Peter nodded, inwardly not agreeing.

The woman bent down a little to talk to Normie. "How old are you?"

"I just turned four!" Normie smiled.

"Are you having fun shopping with your Dad?" the elderly woman asked Normie.

"Peter's not my Dad," Normie replied, giggling. "He's just watching me right now because my Mommy and Daddy were fighting each other."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." The woman looked up at Peter and gave him an unreadable look.

"They're going through a divorce right now..." Peter tried to explain before trailing off awkwardly as the lady turned around and walked away from them.

Peter shook his head and ushered Normie to the front of the store so they could pay for the clothes. The taxi picked them back up soon after that. Peter was thankful the store was less than ten minutes from the hotel.

Normie was swinging his feet back and forth as he sat in the back of the taxi next to him. Peter could feel Normie's eyes on him.

"Why do you look so mad all the time?" Normie asked Peter all of a sudden.

Peter looked taken aback by that. "Mad? I'm not- why do you say that?"

"Well, your eyebrows are always pulled together like this," Normie replied as he mimicked Peter's expression, "and you never smile."

Peter snorted at the look on the kid's face. Normie instantly burst into a fit of giggles. Peter shook his head.

"I'm not mad," he said once Normie calmed down. "It's just- you met my son Andrew on the island, right?"

"Yeah! Mommy explained to me that he was my half-brother. She said that he can control things with his mind!" he said in adoration.

Peter glanced up at the taxi driver to see if he was listening. It didn't seem like he was.

"Shhhh," Peter whispered to Normie and gestured at the driver; Normie nodded, showing he understood.

"Well, I want him back. He doesn't belong with them. None of them do," Peter said quietly.

Normie raised his eyebrow in confusion.

"Doesn't belong there? Who's them?" Normie asked.

"Them. Andrew. Mary Jane. Harry," Peter said quickly.

"But Stryker said he helped them. Mommy and Daddy were dying and he saved their lives." Normie smiled. "He's a hero."

"He is not a hero," Peter said coldly. "This isn't the place to talk about it, but you need to know the truth about what's going on."

Normie hesitantly nodded they had pulled up to the hotel. Without a word, Peter exited the taxi with the bags. Normie silently followed him. The door to their room opened before Peter was able to knock. Felicia ruffled Normie's hair as he walked through the door.

"Here." Peter set the bags on the table.

"Thanks, Peter," Felicia said as she smiled at him. "I can only imagine what you picked out."

"Maybe you should have gone yourself," Peter snapped angrily.

"Ooh, what's your problem?" Felicia asked a little taken aback as she crossed her arms across her chest.

Peter sat down at the table and gestured for Felicia to sit as well.

"Normie, can you please tell us about Stryker and what goes on at the island? We just want to know your stance on this," Peter said.

"Stance?" Normie questioned.

"What you think of Stryker," Peter explained.

"Okay..." Normie seemed confused. "Stryker helps people that need help. Like people who are going to die or are very sick. Then he makes them better and sometimes they get powers!"

"Do you know about how he chips some people so that he can control them?" Peter pressed.

"The chips are for if they get lost though," Normie said.

Felicia shook her head. "No, Normie. The chips made us not ourselves. Stryker used the chips on the people who didn't want to be there."

"So... Mommy, Daddy, and Andrew don't want to be there with me?" the little boy frowned.

"And Andrew?" Peter asked as he stood up suddenly concerned. "Normie, does Andrew have one of those chips in his head too?"

Normie nodded quickly. "Yeah." He was starting to look worried. "The chips don't hurt them though. I thought- Stryker said it was just in case they get lost."

"Do you have a chip?" Peter asked.

"No," Normie replied as he began rubbing his arm. "I didn't need one."

"So Stryker wasn't worried about you getting lost?" Peter inquired as he raised his eyebrow.

Normie kept looking between Peter and Felicia.

"I don't know," he said in a sad voice.

Peter looked at Felicia. "If Normie is right about Andrew having a chip in-"

"-Then maybe he doesn't actually want to be one of the bad guys," Felicia finished for him.

"Bad guys?" Normie questioned, clearly confused.

Peter opened his mouth to answer, but his spidey pager started to go off.

"We haven't even been gone a day yet," Peter complained as he got up to press the respond button.

"Spider-Man!" the familiar voice of Captain Winchester boomed through the pager. "Mysterio is back! He was last seen near 85th Street and Meadowview!"

"Let's go." Felicia jumped up and ran to the next room.

"Stay here, I'll be back in a few hours!" Peter called to her.

Felicia ran back into the room. "Okay, Normie, Aunt May is going to watch you and Violet for a few hours."

"Okay, Licia." the boy smiled at her.

"I can go myself," Peter tried again.

She let out a light laugh as she grabbed his hoodie and tossed it to him.

"You're not going to swing yourself all the way there, it's an hour away. Besides, I know how to hot wire a car. Do you?" Felicia asked.

"We're not going to hot wire a car, Felicia," he protested.

"Correction, you're not. I am. Now let's go, we're wasting time." Felicia shoved him out the door.

Peter knew she was right, and he figured they could just return the car later.

* * *

"See? We're making great time," Felicia said as she swerved through the traffic. "I cut down the hour drive to... twenty minutes!" she smirked.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just drive." Peter rolled his eyes. "Seriously though, after I take care of Mysterio, we need to come up with a plan."

"We need to find a way to draw them out, but it has to be on our terms-"

"Felicia, stop!" Peter yelled.

Felicia slammed on the brakes and the car screeched to a stop. A second later a black SUV landed in the spot their car would have been in. Peter looked up in the air and he couldn't believe his eyes.

"Well, it looks like we found them," Peter said as he began taking off his clothes, revealing his Spider-Man outfit underneath.

Scarlet was soaring through the air while Andrew was flying around on his glider. They seemed to be chasing... but that couldn't be right. There were what seemed like at least twenty or thirty Mysterios running around between the buildings, avoiding capture from Scarlet and Andrew.

"What do you think that's about?" Felicia asked.

"Mysterio can create illusions. I'm assuming he made several holograms of himself to avoid capture or to create confusion. I don't know why they're running from Scarlet and Andrew though," Peter said.

"I wonder where Harry is." Felicia looked around.

"I'm going to try to find the real Mysterio. I need to know why they're chasing him. Is there any way you can get some kind of electricity? Another taser?" Peter asked quickly.

"I'm on it." Felicia answered as Peter jumped out of the car.

She sped away and Peter looked at the scene in front of him. Most of the area was blocked off to civilians, he didn't see any people in the main combat area. Once again, all of the police were knocked out, probably by the same kind of gas Mysterio had used at the bank robbery.

One of the Mysterios was turned away from Peter, up against an office building. Peter silently ran up behind him.

"Okay Mysterio, what's going on?" Peter asked as he went to apprehend him. His hand went right through Mysterio's arm.

"Whoa," Peter said as he put his hand through the hologram again.

He heard an alarmed yell and looked up. Another Mysterio was running down the road. Scarlet was right behind him, whipping throwing stars at him.

"Oh no you don't!" Peter yelled out, leaping forwards to tackle the running man. He flew right through it again, revealing it to be another hologram.

"Damn!" Peter cursed. He quickly repositioned himself, thinking Scarlet was going to go after him next. As soon as she realized it was a hologram, she flew off towards another Mysterio.

Well, that was weird, Peter thought. Why didn't she try anything?

"No, wait!" Peter heard a Mysterio yell.

He whipped his head around to see Andrew about to shoot him with an arrow. They were standing in the inside of a building where half the wall had been blasted away.

"Andrew!" Peter called out.

Andrew didn't flinch. The arrow shot through the Mysterio hologram. Andrew growled in frustration as he picked the arrow up.

"Andrew!" Peter called to him again.

He carefully walked up to him as Andrew put the arrow away in the quiver.

"Spider-Man." Andrew nodded to him and walked past.

"Look at me!" Peter raised his voice as he turned around.

Andrew stopped walking.

"I need to know. Do you have one of those mind controlling chips in you too?" Peter asked.

"Yes, he does."

Peter froze.

He turned around and Scarlet was standing there, arms to her side and her mask was unzipped.

"Take it out," Peter said each word slowly. "MJ, you have to listen to me. I know you can hear me."

"My name is Scarlet." she said, walking casually towards him. "And we can't do that."

Peter's spider sense wasn't going off, so he stood his ground. Andrew slowly walked around to the front of Peter, as to keep him in view.

"Andrew, keep looking for Mysterio," Scarlet commanded.

Peter was about to protest, but Scarlet brought her finger up to his mouth.

She brushed her fingers along the edge of his mask and began to peel it up.

"Stop," Peter said, backing up a foot.

Scarlet made a pouting face. "That's not fair, I don't have a mask on. Besides, nobody is around to see you." She gestured outside at the police officers that were passed out on the ground.

She began to take his mask off again, he didn't resist this time.

"I can see why I used to like you," Scarlet practically purred as she ran her hand down the side of his face.

"You have to see that what you guys are doing is wrong," Peter said.

Scarlet began combing her hand through his hair.

"I know that it's wrong, I just don't care." She said with a shrug. "Not having the burden of emotions is actually a great thing. I just do what I want, without having to worry about how I'll _feel_ afterwards."

Peter stepped back again, letting her hand fall from his hair. "I know that you're not yourself right now, MJ. But please, listen to me. I'm sorry that this happened to you. I'm sorry about what happened that night with the Sinister Six. I'm-"

Scarlet cut him off by roughly pressing her lips to his. Peter's eyes opened wide and he tried to shove her off.

"Don't-" he started, but she persisted.

He gave in and began kissing her back, pressing her closer to kiss ended as soon as it started.

"Sorry, I just feel... nothing." Scarlet smirked.

Her head turned a margin of a fraction and she winked. Before Peter was able to turn around, he felt a white hot pain in his side. Somebody had fired a gun at him.

"I'll leave you to it then," Scarlet called to the person behind Peter.

She ran out of the blown out building, right after another Mysterio. Peter turned, clutching his side. Blood was already flowing through his hand.

"Long time, no see," Goblin laughed as he tossed the gun to the side. He took out his bowie knife from his sheath and lunged at Peter.

Despite his side feeling as if it were on fire, Peter was able to jump out of the way in time. "What's going on out there? Why are you guys trying to kill Mysterio?" Peter questioned, leaping out of the way again just as Harry lunged for him.

"Kill?" Goblin laughed. "We've been ordered to capture him, alive. Another project for Stryker." He smirked, showing off his razor sharp teeth.

"I'm not going to let you guys take anyone else." Peter tried to web the knife from the Goblin's grip, but he was too fast.

"Where are Normie and Felicia, Parker?" the Goblin asked as he began circling around Peter. He glared darkly at Peter.

Peter's side was burning.

"I'm not telling you anything," Peter said through gritted teeth. "Nobody deserves to be Stryker's slave. Not even you, Goblin."

The conflict of emotions followed one another in quick succession across the Goblin's face. There was a small sound behind Peter and he saw the Goblin turn towards the sound behind him. The second that Peter turned to see what, or who, was behind him, the wind was knocked out of him and he found himself on the floor. The Goblin was on top of him, knees digging into Peter's stomach. Peter tried to shove him off, but the Goblin punched his nose, causing it to break.

"Fuck!" Peter yelled out, holding his nose.

The Goblin suddenly began digging in the bullet wound on Peter's side.

"What the hell is wrong with you!?" Peter managed to gasp out.

The pain subsided as the Goblin stopped digging. He held up a small shiny object to Peter. The bullet!

"This bullet is very special. It burns for several hours after being fired if in contact with living tissue. It would have slowly cooked your organs until you died," the Goblin said.

He tossed the bullet to the floor, once again glaring at Peter with a blackness in his eyes.

"Let's get this straight. I fucking hate you," the Goblin growled out. "But ever since Stryker did this-" he gestured to himself, "-to us, Harry and I are more fused than we were before. His pain is my pain. It would literally kill him to see you dead."

The Goblin shook his head in disgust.

"Give up Normie and Felicia while you still can. Stryker gave the order to kill you if you attempted to rescue any of his projects. If they are seen with you, you're as good as dead. He already knows they were at your house." the Goblin smiled as if he was remembering something, and then got up from Peter's chest.

"Normie is your son! You don't really want him to stay there, do you? You know what will happen to him." Peter struggled as he got up.

Peter heard a static noise, and the Goblin brought his hand up to a small device on his ear.

"You got him? Good. I'm coming. Andrew? No, but he knows where to go." The Goblin took his hand away from the device.

"Well, looks like Scarlet got the real Mysterio. They're on their way back to the island as we speak." the Goblin smirked. "You failed again, Parker."

"I will get you all out of there." Peter assured him. "Stryker is going to pay."

"You just don't give up, do you?" the Goblin snickered.

"Well, Harry-" the Goblin turned around, "-I gave him fair warning. Next time I see him though, I will end him."

"You won't kill me," Peter laughed. "You just saved my life."

The Goblin bent down to pick something up. "Here's your mask." he said as he tossed Peter the mask.

As soon as Peter caught it, the Goblin stabbed a syringe into his arm.

"Can't have you following me back now, can I?" the Goblin said.

And everything for Peter went black.


	22. Chapter 22

Ten years ago.

"Peter, I am not going in, it's freezing!" Mary Jane yelled from the docks. She and Peter had snuck into Coney Island Park and it was far past closing time.

"You'll get used to it!" he called from the water.

It actually was kind of cold, but he wasn't about to let her know that.

"Can't I just sit up here?" she asked half-heartedly.

"It was your idea to come down here!" he called up to her.

She sat down on the docks and let her feet hang over the side. "I know, but it's nearly two in the morning and it's freezing and-"

"Okay, okay. Hold on, I'll be right up," he said as he plunged under the water.

"Peter?" Mary Jane stood up and squinted into the darkness. "Peter, this is not funny," she whispered loudly.

"Hey, beautiful." Mary Jane jumped at the sudden voice behind her.

She nearly slipped into the water, but Peter was able to catch her with his quick reflexes.

"You jerk!" she laughed as she stepped away from him.

"Where are you going?" Peter asked with a smirk as Mary Jane took several more steps away from him.

"You're going to push me into the water," she accused.

He rolled his eyes at her. "I just caught you from falling in, I'm not going to push you in."

She narrowed her eyes at him, but remained smiling. "Fine. Come here then, I'm freezing!" She opened up her arms to him.

"But, I'm all wet," he grinned.

"I don't care, I just want you to hold me."

Peter walked up to her and encased her into a hug.

"You know..." he began, "I said I wouldn't push you in, but I never said I wouldn't jump in with you in my arms..." he smiled devilishly.

"Peter, no-" Mary Jane began, but it was too late.

And the water was freezing!

"You did not just do that!" she splashed water at him.

"Sorry, I couldn't help it." he smiled crookedly at her. She could never resist that smile.

"You owe me big time, Peter Parker." She swam up to him.

"Anything." He wrapped his arms around her again.

They stayed there for several minutes, looking up at the moon.

"What you did today, well yesterday, was amazing," Mary Jane said suddenly. "You saved every single person on that bus. I still can't wrap my head around what you can do."

Peter laughed lightly. "Just another day on the job."

"It's just that... I'm afraid one day you're going to get bored of me. You can do all this amazing stuff, and I'm just..." she trailed off.

Peter raised an eyebrow at her. "Just what, MJ?"

"Normal. Boring." She sighed. "Some days I wish I could do what you could do. I just don't ever want you to stop wanting me."

"Hey." He ran his hand through her hair. "I will never stop wanting to be with you. You are the most beautiful, fascinating girl I've ever met. I will never stop being in love with you. I promise."

* * *

"Come on, Parker. Wake up." Peter felt someone shake his body. "You weren't poisoned, so quit being such a baby and wake up!"

Peter's body hit the floor with a thud. He quickly jumped up and took in his surroundings.

Felicia was standing there in the room with him. Grinning, he noted. It looked as if they were in someone's house, except it looked like it hadn't been lived in for years. A thick layer of dust covered nearly everything in the room.

"You got shot," Felicia commented.

"Yeah," Peter huffed. "Why the hell do you look so damn happy about that?"

Felicia rolled her eyes and tried to play off the smile, but it seemed like she couldn't help it. "Okay, I'm smiling, whatever. But, not because you got shot."

Peter looked down at himself. His normal clothes were back on, he looked underneath his hoodie and his suit was off.

"Where's my suit?" he questioned.

"In the car, it was slightly burnt, but whatever forget about that for now-" she waved her hand at that, "-I want you to go look in the room to the right at the end of the hallway."

"Invasion of privacy," Peter muttered under his breath. "Wait, who's house are we in?"

Felicia sighed loudly. "Nobody lives here. This entire block has been abandoned for practically ten years." She walked over to him and led him to the hallway. "Go. Check. The. Room." She shoved him down the hall.

"Alright, alright." Peter said. He walked down the hall, not really sure what to expect.

He turned around when he got to the end. "This one?" He questioned, pointing to the last one on the right. Felicia sarcastically gave him a thumbs up at the other end of the hallway.

Peter turned the doorknob and slowly opened the door. Who knew what Felicia could have hid behind the door. Knowing her, she was messing with him somehow. It would explain why she was grinning so damn much. Peter shook his head and smiled.

"Hi, Dad."

Peter's smile vanished, wiped away by astonishment.

"Andrew?" Peter shut the door behind him. His son was sitting on the bed right in front of him, his feet hanging off the side.

Andrew didn't answer, but he seemed very intent on looking at the ground.

"How are- Are you-" Peter didn't know what to ask. He was just glad that his son was here with him. He filled in the couple of steps between him and engulfed him into a hug.

"You don't hate me?" Andrew asked in a small voice.

Peter let go of him. "Hate you? Why would I ever hate you?"

Andrew still wouldn't look at him. It was hard not to notice that his eyes were still that neon blue color.

"I ran away from home. I went to the Goblin. I willingly went to Stryker." Andrew's voice started to shake.

"Andrew, look at me." Andrew shook his head and looked back at the ground. "Andrew..." Peter grabbed his son's face and forced him to look at him. "I will never hate you. No matter what." He let go.

"You promise?"Andrew sniffed.

"I promise," Peter answered.

This time Andrew was the one to hug him.

"I shouldn't have left home." Andrew sniffed. "I'm sorry."

Peter sighed. "I shouldn't have said those things to you. But, what matters is you're back now."

"The only reason I went to the island was because the Goblin told me that Mom was alive and he had proof and..." Andrew looked down again. "It was nice being able to be with her. But, I could tell something was up with her. I don't really know what happened, but I wanted to go home. Next thing I know, I woke up, but I never really woke up. I was basically in some kind of trance until now."

"And now we're one step closer to ending this whole thing." Peter turned his head to see Felicia in the doorway.

He hadn't even heard it open, he had been so focused on his son. "How's your head doing?" she asked Andrew.

"Awesome," Andrew answered sarcastically, but smiled nonetheless.

"What happened, Felicia? I didn't even see you there once you left." Peter questioned.

She took a few steps into the room. "Well, I got the taser like you asked me too. It was easy with all the cops passed out on the ground. Andrew here was about to go all 'Katniss' on a Mysterio hologram, and I tased him. I just cut open his head right then and there and took the chip out. After that I tossed him into the back of the car, and that's when I found you."

"Felicia, you're-" Peter began.

"Amazing. I know." She smirked. "Anyways, we better ditch this place and head back to the hotel."

"Hotel?" Andrew looked confused. "Oh... the house..."

Peter and Felicia exchanged a look. "What do you mean 'the house'?" Peter asked.

"Isn't that why you're at a hotel?" Andrew asked. "You saw what happened?"

"No, what happened to the house, Andrew?" Peter sounded exasperated.

"Stryker ordered the Goblin to burn it down. There- there's nothing left. Everything is gone." Andrew said sadly. "And I just stood there and watched it burn."

Peter looked over at Felicia. She shook her head marginally, and he knew what she was saying. Do not get upset about this.

"It's just a house," Peter stated as he walked towards the door. "Let's go to the hotel. Violet, Aunt May, and... Normie is there."

"What am I going to say to them? Violet is going to kill me." He actually looked worried as he hopped off the bed.

"She just might," Peter laughed.

* * *

As Peter pulled into the hotel parking lot, he knew that Andrew was truly worried about what the rest of their family was going to say about his absence.

"Don't sweat it. Your sister is just going to be glad you're back now," Felicia said. "Besides, this is not your fault. You were chipped." She stepped out of the car.

Peter knew that Felicia would back Andrew up on that, since she knew first-hand what is was like to have a chip controlling you.

"But if I didn't run away in the first place this wouldn't have happened." Andrew mumbled to himself as he followed his father and Felicia into the hotel.

Peter kept stealing glances at Felicia. She looked a lot happier than he usually saw her, and all because they had gotten Andrew back. She was actually slowly becoming part of their family in a way. He chuckled to himself, which earned him a puzzled look from Felicia.

"Come into the front room guys, I have something to show you," Peter called as the three of them entered the hotel room.

Aunt May and Normie came in first.

"Violet will be here in a moment, she's on the last page of-" she stopped mid-sentence. "Oh my God."

Andrew smiled sheepishly at her.

"Well, get over here!" Aunt May cried out. Andrew ran up to her and, like Peter had, she engulfed him into a hug.

"I can't believe you're here. You're alright. You- are you wearing contacts?" Aunt May questioned as she finally let go of him.

Andrew's face dropped and he looked at Peter, unsure of what to say.

"They're not contacts, Aunt May," Peter answered for Andrew. Aunt May looked at Peter, waiting for him to continue. "They're a side effect of what Stryker did to him."

"But, you're okay now?" Aunt May turned to Andrew again. "What did he do to you?"

Andrew noticed that all eyes in the room were on him. Peter saw him glance into the kitchen. Suddenly, the door to the refrigerator opened up. Everyone turned to it. A bright red apple started floated out of the fridge and made it's way to Andrew's out turned hand. He took a bite out of it at the same time the fridge door closed.

"I can control things with my mind." Andrew shrugged as he took another bite of his apple. "And I can place fear into other people's minds."

A look of concern crossed his Great Aunt's face.

"Something that I'm not going to do to any of you," he assured her.

As Andrew went to take another bite from the apple, it was suddenly gone. Everyone looked to the other side of the room. Violet had the apple in her hand attached to the end of her webbing.

"Hi, Vi." Andrew grinned at her.

Violet stormed over to him. "You stupid, stupid, good-for-nothing..." she began hitting him with her book in her other hand.

"Ease up, Vi," Peter laughed.

Felicia walked into the living room and plopped herself down on the couch.

Violet apparently decided to listen to Peter's advice and now it seemed like she wasn't going to ever let go of Andrew. Normie was standing near the doorway to the other hotel room they had. He was absentmindedly rubbing his arm, looking unsure of where he fit in.

"Andrew," Peter said quietly. Violet let go and Andrew turned to him. Peter nodded his head in Normie's direction. Andrew gave a small nod in return.

"Hi, Andrew," Normie said shyly.

"Hey, buddy." Andrew smiled at him. "It's weird seeing each other outside of that building huh?"

"Yeah!" Normie finally perked up. "So does that mean we don't have to train with each other anymore? We can just play?"

"No more training." Andrew laughed.

"Andrew..." Peter heard Normie whisper. "I really miss my Mommy and Daddy."

"I'm sure my Dad is working to get them back. They just got me back, right?"

Normie started kicking at nothing on the ground. "Yeah, but 'back' for me and them is on the island with Stryker."

Andrew shook his head. "No. Nobody belongs there. We will get Mom back. And your dad," he said.

"When?" Normie asked loudly.

Aunt May had begun to clean up the place, but Peter could tell she just wanted to hear what was going on.

"We are going to get them back soon, Normie. Felicia and I are going to do a little bit of digging tonight, and then we're going to come up with a plan." Peter answered.

"Tonight?" Felicia complained from the couch. "Peter, you know as well as I do I want Harry back, but can't we just take the night? We just got Andrew back."

"I don't want them to spend another day there if they don't have to. You know if it was you on that island, Harry wouldn't stop doing whatever he could until you were back here safely." Peter said.

"Fine. You're right." Felicia got to her feet.

"Dad, before you go, can we please go down to the park? Normie has been asking since you left. You can stay with us just for a little bit?" Violet asked, with a pleading smile on her face.

"Yeah, please Dad!" Andrew chipped in.

With all three of the children looking up at him with such excitement, there was no way he would be able to say no to that.

"Fine. Half an hour though, then we I have to go." Peter smiled.

Aunt May followed Peter and the three kids outside. He was surprised when Felicia followed them out as well.

* * *

"I hope you're calling to bring me good news." Stryker's impatient voice rang through the phone.

The Goblin cringed slightly, hoping Stryker wouldn't activate the electrocution function of the chip because of what he had to tell him.

"Good and bad." Goblin paused, but Stryker remained silent to let him continue. "Scarlet is on her way to you right now with Mysterio. We got him."

"I'm assuming you didn't get the others though?" Stryker questioned.

"Not exactly," the Goblin began. "Right before I was about to follow Scarlet back to the island, I saw Felicia had incapacitated Andrew and was putting him into their car. Instead of intervening, I decided I would let her take Andrew, hoping that they would lead me to the others."

"Did it work?" Stryker asked his interest peaked.

Goblin was standing on the edge of the roof of a building across the street from the hotel where Peter and the other were all staying.

"I know where they are, all of them: Felicia, Normie, Parker, Andrew, Violet," he replied, and then added, "Even the aunt."

He watched as Violet pushed Normie on the swing set. Parker and his aunt were having a conversation off to the side. Felicia was spinning Andrew on the roundabout.

"This is great news!" Stryker practically yelled into the phone. "I'll have Scarlet go to one of our secret locations near you to hold Mysterio for now so she can get to your location."

"How do you want me to proceed?" the Goblin asked.

"Wait for Scarlet," Stryker instructed. "Then, I want you to bring all of them back to me."

"What if they resist?" Goblin questioned.

"Then, you kill them."


	23. Chapter 23

Peter, Felicia, and Aunt May trailed behind the three kids as they walked down the hallway of the hotel. Violet was practically glowing with happiness at the return of her brother. He could tell Andrew was trying to keep his cool, but he was just as happy, if not more so, that he was back home with everybody.

"I hope the park isn't packed," Violet said offhandedly.

There was a sudden blur next to Violet and Normie appeared right in front of her.

"Nope! Nobody is there. I just went outside and checked," Normie said with a grin.

"You're joking, right?" Peter asked with annoyance as he walked past Felicia and Aunt May up to Normie. "You can't just use your powers like that, Normie. What if somebody had seen you?"

"But they didn't, because nobody was there," Normie countered.

Peter sighed with frustration.

"But you took a risk. What's worse is that you took a risk for something so trivial."

"I just wanted to help," Normie tried to explain as he looked at Felicia.

"Well, don't," Peter said as he walked around Normie towards the exit, not bothering to look back at the hurt look on Normie's face.

It turned out that Normie was right; there was nobody at the park. The kids ran off straight away to the playground. Felicia followed them, glaring daggers at Peter as she passed.

"What's the matter with you, Peter?" Aunt May asked as she stood next to him.

"If you're referring to what I said to Normie, I feel as if I'm completely justified," he said, not looking at his aunt. He knew that it was wrong the way he spoke to the child, but he couldn't help but hold some sort of resentment towards him.

"You actually think he's dangerous, don't you?" Aunt May folded her arms.

"It's not that I think he's necessarily dangerous," Peter clarified. "It's just that I think what he can do can be dangerous for us."

"Peter, look at him." Aunt May gestured towards Normie on the swing set. "He is a four year old _child_. Now, I know I've just met him today, but even you have to see that he is clearly not dangerous?"

Peter watched as Violet pushed Normie on the swings. His laughter could be heard from across the playground. Violet couldn't stop grinning in amusement. Looking over towards the other end of the playground, closer to where Peter was, Felicia was attempting to spin Andrew as fast as she could on the roundabout. Andrew finally jumped off, and unable to hold his balance, dropped to the ground holding his head.

A second later, Normie was at Andrew's side. Peter quickly looked around to see if anybody was watching them, which thankfully, they were not.

"You okay, Andrew?" Normie asked in concern. He stood next to Andrew, who was still seated on the ground, and began looking him over.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." Andrew playfully shoved him off. "You should try it, it's fun." he got up off the ground. "Vi, come over here!" he called to her as well.

All three of the kids jumped onto the roundabout and Felicia began to spin them.

Peter looked back towards Aunt May. "There are also risks with him being so young and naive. You saw him shoot off towards Andrew a minute ago, what if somebody had seen that? What if someone saw him earlier when he ran outside?"

Aunt May didn't answer, and instead shook her head.

All of a sudden, Peter's spider-sense went off. He quickly looked around in all directions. Nothing caught his eye. Aunt May had walked off towards Felicia and the children.

Trying not to alert the others, walked nonchalantly around the playground area. It seemed quiet. Not many people were at the hotel, and aside from that, he had only seen a few people pass them since they had been outside.

That's when he saw it. A small flash of red peeked out from around the corner of the hotel. Peter looked back towards the playground and the others seemed busy. He walked until he was out of view and then he ran towards the far corner of the hotel where he had seen the flash of red.

He readied himself before turning the corner. He was not expecting what he saw next.

"...MJ?" he asked uncertainly at the figure sitting on the ground up against the building.

The woman looked like Mary Jane, except she wasn't in the usual red suit that Peter had become accustomed to seeing her in. Instead, she was wearing a pair of torn jeans and a blood-stained blue hoodie.

"Peter?" she asked as she looked up at him.

There was a cut on the side of her face, bleeding and staining the hoodie. Peter knelt next to her.

"Oh my God, MJ, what happened?" he asked.

"I took a page from Felicia and took out my own chip." She pointed to the slice on her head. "And then I followed you guys here, but I nearly passed out from the blood loss."

He began to check her for other injuries. "How fast can you heal? Should I take you to the hospital?" Peter rushed out.

"No, I don't need a hospital." She began to stand up, and Peter quickly helped her to her feet. "I'll heal fast."

Peter nodded and then pulled her close to him.

"We got Andrew back, MJ. I have them all here at the hotel with me. Andrew, Violet, Aunt May, even Normie," he said and then added. "Felicia is here too, helping me out."

"We need to all go to the island. Now." Mary Jane said suddenly, pulling back from him. "To get Harry back and to stop Stryker."

Peter looked at her questioningly. "All of us?"

"Yes. The only way to ensure that the children are safe is if they come with us to the island. They could help us."

Peter shook his head in disagreement. "We won't need to bring them. Now that you're here, between you, me, and Felicia, we can just go by ourselves. We can rescue Harry and take down Stryker. Our kids stay here."

Mary Jane pulled herself closer to Peter. "You're always in the way, aren't you?"

All of a sudden Peter's spider-sense went off again, and he went to protect Mary Jane from whatever was about to happen, but then he felt something small stab into his chest.

Looking down, he saw Mary Jane taking a needle out from his chest. "MJ... what...?" he managed to gasp out before dropping to the same spot she was in when he arrived.

"This is a concentrated liquid form of the same paralyzing gas that Stryker gave to the Goblin. Your powers are currently useless and you will soon fall into unconsciousness." she said intensely. "Don't worry, it won't kill you. Once I get the others to the island, I'll be back for you. You're quite valuable, Mr. Parker."

Peter squinted his eyes at her. "MJ... Scarlet... don't do this. They're your children." he pleaded.

Small dots started to cloud Peter's vision. MJ lowered herself down to his level.

"Oh, no," she said as she shook her head with a small sadistically gleeful smile on her face. "They're not."

That's when her face started to blur and Peter watched as her body grew taller as she stood up. Within seconds, he was staring at a replica of himself.

"You're... the shifter?" Peter barely managed to say.

The fake-Peter checked under Peter's hoodie and nodded.

"Good thing you have your suit on under these clothes, because I'm going to be needing them." the shifter smiled as Peter closed his eyes and slumped over onto the ground.

* * *

"Okay, I'm done," Felicia said as she walked away from the roundabout, out of breath and slightly dizzy. Violet jumped off and began to spin her two brothers. Felicia scanned the park for Peter, but didn't see him.

"Did Peter say he was going anywhere?" Felicia asked Aunt May.

Aunt May also looked around, worried. "No, he didn't."

Felicia shrugged and walked over to the swings. "He probably went back to the room for something. We do have to head out here pretty soon," she said to Aunt May, she had followed Felicia over to the swing set.

"I know the both of you will be able to bring back Mary Jane and Harry," Aunt May said to her. "I have faith in the two of you."

"Thanks," Felicia said, looking away from her.

"Licia!" Felicia jumped as Normie had suddenly appeared in front of her.

"Normie, you can't do that kind of stuff when people could be watching." Felicia said quietly. She did agree with Peter in that aspect, but she was never one for rules herself.

She figured if she could prove to Peter that Normie wasn't a liability or a danger, maybe he would warm up to him.

"Oops, sorry Licia!" the child laughed. "I'm hungry."

Felicia raised her eyebrows. "You're always hungry."

"That's because of my met- my metapo- mebalism-" he babbled, trying to figure out the word he was trying to use.

"Metabolism?" Felicia asked helpfully.

"Yup!" he grinned. "I need food more often because I burn it so much quicker. Stryker told me himself!"

Felicia looked around to make sure Peter wasn't around. "Maybe it's a good idea not to mention Stryker when Peter could be around, okay?"

Normie looked thoughtful, but then nodded. "Peter is Daddy's best friend and I want him to like me, so I won't bring Stryker up again."

"Great." She ruffled his dark blonde hair. "Let me go find Peter and then maybe Aunt May can make you guys some food."

"Okay!" he shouted before running, at normal speed, back towards Andrew and Violet.

"I'll go ask them what they want for dinner," Aunt May said. Felicia nodded.

Felicia figured Peter had gone back up to the room, so she set off towards the front of the hotel when she heard his voice from the other side of the building.

"Felicia, hey!" he yelled as he ran up to her, pulling his hoodie on over himself.

"Thanks for letting us know you were leaving." Felicia crossed her arms. "You ready to go yet?"

Peter shrugged. "I wasn't gone long and I'm back now. So what's the plan?"

She rolled her eyes at his shrug. "I just spoke with your aunt. She'll make the kids some dinner while we go figure out the best plan of action to capture Harry and Mary Jane."

"Mhm." Peter looked contemplative. "Yeah, that doesn't sound safe to me. If we leave the kids here, who will look after them?"

"Your aunt."

Peter sniffed derisively. "Yeah, like she'll be able to protect them from Stryker or the others."

"We're just going off to figure out a plan. I assumed you didn't want to talk in the hotel just in case the kids were listening and you didn't want them to know when and where we were going?" Felicia began to get annoyed.

"Okay, well I have a better plan. You know where the island is, right?" Peter asked however he didn't let Felicia answer. "So, instead of leaving the kids unprotected here, how about we just all go straight to the island, including the kids. Take down Stryker. Rescue Sc- Mary Jane and Harry?"

Felicia narrowed her eyes slightly at her. "I just got Andrew back for you. You'd be willing to risk him, Violet, and losing Normie?"

"They'd be safer with us, and we need to go to the island, now." Peter argued.

Felicia shook her head. "Peter, you don't want to bring them there. Believe me. We can bring them somewhere else before we leave, but they can't go."

Peter raised one of his eyebrows and a smirk was starting to show on his face. "Really? They 'can't'? You do know they are my kids right?"

"You're joking me right?" Felicia asked angrily. "Look, I don't care about many people, but obviously you guys make the list. I don't know what brought this idea on, but this one is pretty stupid even for you."

"I feel as if you believe yourself to be more of a part of my life than you really are." Peter said emotionlessly, not showing any concern as Felicia's face dropped slightly. "So it's either you're leaving with us now, or else I don't need you anymore." he smiled.

"What the hell is your problem?" she practically whispered to him. "Ever since I brought Normie here, you've been acting like a complete jackass."

Felicia's hair stood on end as an ear-splitting laughter echoed all around them. Peter's smile vanished as his eyes quickly searched the skies.

"Dammit! He is going to ruin everything!" Peter growled out, looking towards the building opposite from the hotel.

"Harry?" Felicia asked, watching the figure that suddenly jumped onto a glider and was heading their way. "How did he find us here!?"

Felicia looked back towards the children at the park. They must have heard the laugh too. Aunt May was standing in front of the three. Normie looked like he was trying to leave the group, but either Andrew or Violet was holding him back. Felicia turned towards Peter. He had an unreadable look on his face and seemed to be arguing with himself about something.

A loud bang was heard directly to the left of Felicia. She looked at the building and a throwing star was embedded in the wall.

"That one was just a warning." Felicia looked up towards the sky and saw Scarlet floating beside Harry. "You are all coming with us. We will kill anyone who resists," she shouted.

"I'll handle this," Peter said quietly.

"The hell you will, Parker. You're going to volunteer your family to go with them!" Felicia yelled.

"It will keep everybody safe," he tried one last time, but Felicia wasn't buying it.

"Nobody will be leaving with either of you," Felicia shouted up at Harry and Scarlet. "Nobody will be dying either. That includes the both of you."

"Goddammit, Felicia!" Peter growled. "He's going to target Pet- me."

"Glad to hear we get to have a little fun!" the Goblin cackled loudly as he bounced a pumpkin bomb in his hand. "Let's have a fun game of catch!"

The small orange bomb was suddenly flying at them with speed, and Peter didn't look as if he was going to, or able to, do anything about it.


	24. Chapter 24

"Parker!" Felicia yelled.

The Goblin's bomb descended towards them.

Instead of webbing the bomb out of the way, Peter took off in the opposite direction towards his children.

Felicia followed close behind. The explosion sent Felicia flying.

She looked up and saw Peter getting up from the ground. There was a thud from somewhere behind her. Felicia flipped over and jumped to her feet. The Goblin had jumped from his glider and was on his way towards them. She didn't see where Scarlet had gone.

Felicia glanced back at Peter, who was about fifteen feet behind her. Peter was holding his hands up in a placating way.

"Wait, wait, wait." Peter backed up as the Goblin walked right past Felicia. Goblin had his bowie knife out as he walked right up to Peter.

"I gave you a chance, Parker," the Goblin growled as he lifted Peter up by the hoodie. "I told you what would happen if you continued to be an annoyance."

Felicia quickly checked her pockets. All she had on her at the moment was a small folding knife. She shoved it back into her pocket for now.

"Just let me explain," Peter pleaded. "I can-" but he was cut off as the Goblin punched him in the jaw, dropping him onto the ground.

"Peter!" Felicia called out.

She heard Violet call out to him as well. Peter glanced up at Felicia, and that's when her jaw dropped. Peter's face had started to blur. It looked like it was changing, but then the blurring stopped and his face went back to normal. She knew it! She knew Peter had been acting weird since she lost sight of him at the park. It was the damn shifter! The fake-Peter gave her a dangerous glare.

"That's not-" she began to say, but then cut herself off quickly.

If this wasn't Peter, then the real Peter was safe for now. She had to keep it that way. The Goblin looked over at her as she spoke, but then began looking around the park. He held his wrist up to his mouth and began to speak.

"Scarlet, time is almost up. That bomb didn't go unnoticed, people are starting to check what is going on." he brought his wrist back down to his side. "I'm going to be clear with you. Stryker wants us to bring back as many of you alive as we can, but he gave the orders to kill the ones who wouldn't comply." He grinned, showing up the razor sharp teeth he had.

"Goblin," the fake-Peter began, "I'm not—"

Felicia closed the gap between them and kicked the shifter in the face before he could give away that he wasn't the real Peter.

"You asshole!" she yelled at the shifter. "You were so ready to just hand over Normie and Andrew before they got here."

"That doesn't sound like the Peter Parker we know." The Goblin raised an eyebrow at Felicia.

The shifter spit out more blood as Felicia landed another kick to his face. The Goblin did nothing to stop her, but stared, amused.

"Parker's in love with me." Felicia crossed her arms and looked down at the shifter disgustedly. "He just admitted it to me before you arrived. He wanted to-" Felicia laughed out loud, "-to basically start a new life with me."

The Goblin's face suddenly went cold. His upper lip curled as he looked down at the shifter. Felicia didn't even hear what the Goblin said to him as she dashed off towards the children and Aunt May.

"What the hell did you do to my dad!?" Andrew yelled out when Felicia got to them.

"Listen to me, because there is not much time to explain," she began. She could hear sirens in the distance. "That is the shifter. Not your father. Do _not_ under any circumstances say otherwise. If we're lucky, they won't find out until long after we're gone."

"Gone? Where are we going?" Violet whispered loudly.

"Violet, they haven't gotten to you yet. If you play along, they might not chip you. You _need_ to act like you want to be there, with your mom. If you have to lie, do not look her in the eye, she will know. Your dad, wherever he is, just believe that he will find us and save us."

Scarlet appeared out of nowhere, landing about twenty feet behind Aunt May.

"Aunt May, go to the hotel. They don't need you," Felicia said, trying to shield the kids behind her, knowing it was useless.

She was more of the brains when it came to the Black Heart program. She dealt with the cameras, the layout of the buildings, etc. Not fighting. There was no way she would win a fight with Scarlet, let alone Scarlet _and_ the Goblin. A piece of paper flew from Felicia's side pocket. She went to catch it, but let it go. It was a small chance, but if Peter found it when he came back...

"I'm not leaving them," Aunt May said firmly.

"No. You're not," Scarlet said tonelessly, causing Aunt May to jump. "You're all to come with us." She took out her gun and pointed it at the small group in front of her. "Anybody tries anything else, I will shoot them."

"The hell we are-argh!" Bam. Andrew jumped backwards, holding his leg.

"Andrew!" Violet cried out.

"Consider that a warning shot, kid," Scarlet said, still pointing the gun at them.

"You bitch!" Felicia grabbed Andrew to hold him still. Scarlet had shot him in the lower leg. "He's just a kid, dammit!"

There was a thud from behind them. The Goblin dropped the shifter, unconscious, onto the ground.

"That was fun." The Goblin smiled, winking at Felicia. "What- you shot spider junior?" The Goblin looked down at the scene in front of him.

"He got mouthy with me." Scarlet shrugged.

"Daddy!" Normie yelled, pulling away from Violet.

It was easier since Andrew wasn't also holding him back. The Goblin allowed Normie to hug him.

"You... you hurt Peter," Normie said with tears in his eyes, staring at the shifter's body on the ground.

"He's fine," the Goblin said dismissively. "Ready to go home?"

"D-don't hurt them anymore," Normie said as he backed up towards the small group.

"We won't need to, buddy, because they're going to come quietly. Isn't that right?" He looked at Felicia.

Felicia looked at her options. If Peter were here right now, the actual Peter, they might have a chance. Normie could use his speed to get out of here, but he was the safest of them all. If she tried to harm either Scarlet or the Goblin right now, they would kill her. She had to stay alive in order to look after the others. She couldn't help them if she was dead.

Felicia grudgingly nodded her head at the Goblin. "How are you even going to get all of us back there?" she challenged. "I don't think we can all fit on your glider."

"I think we can manage," Scarlet said, pulling her phone out. "We're ready."

"They've delayed the police as long as they could. They're on their way now," the Goblin said when he finished reading a message on his phone.

Scarlet suddenly looked down. Violet had left their group and hugged her around the waist.

"I can't believe it's really you," Violet said, emotion thick in her voice. "Andrew told me it was you, but seeing you this close, you look just like the pictures."

Scarlet lowered the hand with the gun down to her side and brought her free hand up to pat Violet on the head. "Yes. It's me."

"Felicia..." Andrew cried out. "It hurts."

"Let me take the bullet out of his leg?" Felicia asked the Goblin. He was more likely to go with what she had to say than Scarlet.

He nodded. "You can once we're in the helicopter. If he heals with the bullet in there, we will have to waste time operating."

"On the heli-" she began, but then she heard it. She looked up and an all-black helicopter was descending onto the park blacktop.

The Goblin slung Peter over his shoulders and brought him into the helicopter. Felicia helped Andrew over to it. As Felicia loaded Andrew into the helicopter, the Goblin exited it. Just for a moment, she saw his eyes flash blue. She couldn't help but stare into his eyes for a few more seconds.

"Get in," the Goblin demanded, looking away from her. Violet and Normie jumped in after her.

Scarlet held her hand up to Aunt May's chest before turning to the Goblin. "Ride front passenger," Scarlet said. He nodded.

"What is going on? Let me in with them," Aunt May said, peering behind Scarlet.

"This helicopter seats eight people, including the pilot," Scarlet began, "There are nine of us."

Scarlet pulled the gun from her side pocket again and put it up to Aunt May's chest.

The gun fired.

* * *

Peter woke up to sirens.

He got to his feet, pushing away his grogginess.

The shifter!

He looked down, realizing he was in his Spider-Man suit. That was odd. Most of the upper part of his suit had been drenched in cold water. He checked around the area quickly with no luck. He punched the building in frustration but then realized his mask was still in his hoodie pocket.

He ran behind the building, through the back entrance. Thankfully, there didn't seem to be any people in the hallways.

He knocked on the bedroom door. "Felicia?" he yelled. "Andrew, Violet!? Aunt May!" No answer.

His hotel room was locked and the shifter had the key, so he was forced to break in. He had a feeling he wouldn't be staying here long anyways.

Throwing on some of his everyday clothes over his suit, he ran back outside. There was a large crowd forming around the playground area. There was no sign of any one of them in the crowd.

"Move out of the way!" an officer demanded loudly. An ambulance pulled into the parking lot.

Peter had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. Somebody was hurt.

"Excuse me." Peter made his way through the crowd. "Excuse me."

His heart felt like it stopped. A few officers were surrounding her. But, it couldn't be her.

"Back up," an officer said to Peter.

"She's my aunt," he said as he knelt down to her. "Aunt May?"

There was no response. He could see her chest slowly move up and down.

"You have to move, son. The paramedics need to bring her to the hospital," the officer tried again.

Peter got up and backed up a few feet. "She'll be okay though."

The paramedics carefully put Aunt May into the stretcher. Peter began to follow them. "She'll be okay, right?" he repeated.

He wanted nothing more than to go into the ambulance with her, but he had to find out where the others were. His heart clenched as the doors shut and the vehicle drove away before anything else was said. Everything had happened so suddenly and he was torn between following the ambulance and finding the others.

Peter bounded over to the officer that spoke to him a minute ago. "Where will they be taking her?"

"Saint Judith's Hospital. It's about ten minutes north from here."

Peter nodded. That shifter better pray his aunt doesn't die. Felicia must have known that it wasn't actually Peter, she had to know that it was the shifter. She could handle them.

"Look, son, witnesses said that a woman with bright red hair shot your aunt. The red haired woman and a man in some kind of black military armor took five people into a helicopter with them and took off," the officer said gently. "We're going to need you to come to the police station to tell us what you know so we can find out where they went."

Peter just nodded as the officer gave him his card. He put the card into his pocket, knowing damn well he had no intentions of going to the station. The crowd seemed to disperse, but Peter remained staring at the spot Aunt May was in. There was so much blood... No. He was not going to lose her.

"Excuse me?"

Peter turned and a woman who looked to be in her forties was standing behind him.

"You wouldn't happen to be Peter, would you?" she asked.

"Yeah..." he said warily. "How do you know my name?"

"Here." She handed him a piece of paper. "The woman with black hair dropped it. I figure it might help you find them."

Peter hesitantly took the paper. His eyes widened at what was on it. A map of Columbia, with an island circled. This must be the island that Felicia was talking about!

"Why... why didn't you show this to the police?" Peter asked, shoving the paper into his pocket. "What do you mean by 'help me find them'?"

The woman looked embarrassed. "You weren't wearing your mask, and I- I tried to wake you up, I thought you were dead. You were just laying there. I threw cold water on you, but that didn't even wake you up."

"You... you saw me in..." Peter's blood ran cold.

"Don't worry." the woman said quickly. "I won't tell anyone. It's just, from what I saw, the police stand no chance against those people. Spider-Man, on the other hand..."

Peter smiled at the woman. She risked holding evidence to help him, and she didn't even know who he was.

"Thank you," Peter said sincerely. "This will help immensely. I mean that."

"Give 'em hell, kid." the woman smiled.


	25. Chapter 25

Felicia sat on the floor of her cell, the same one that she had been in for those couple of years she had been kept at this island. It seemed every time she got free they brought her right back here.

Everything was a blur after Scarlet shot Aunt May. Andrew had leapt over Felicia; she was unsure if it was to get to Scarlet or to help Aunt May, but before he got to either of them, the Goblin had reached back and stabbed him in the arm with a syringe. Felicia didn't get the syringe, but instead the moment she looked up from Andrew, Scarlet's fist met her face and everything went dark.

When she had finally woken up she was on the floor of her old cell. She had no idea where Andrew, Violet, or Normie were. She hated the fact that Aunt May had just been left there to die all alone; that woman did not deserve that. The moment she woke up, she checked over herself and noticed that her small knife was still safely secured in her side pocket. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing.

She couldn't help but think about what had happened to Peter. The real Peter, that is. There was no way the shifter could have killed him. Peter was too smart for that. As far as she could tell, the shifter's only powers were to change its appearance and heal itself. It didn't seem to have any kind of super strength or anything.

The door to her room opened and she immediately got to her feet.

"Felicia Hardy." Stryker shut the door behind him. "You really are something, you know that?"

"Where are the others? You better not have hurt them," she said.

"I'll let your tone slide for now because I can tell you're upset that we've won." Stryker smiled. "As for the others, they're fine. You are not prisoners like you think."

Felicia gestured around the room. "This seems like a prison to me."

Stryker nodded. "Well, until you are no longer a security risk, I cannot risk you getting free again. Normie is probably in his room, or back with his father. Violet I believe is with Scarlet right now, asking a million questions. That one is an inquisitive little one," he laughed, "Andrew, like you, is back in his cell. He is understandably angry that his aunt was killed, but as soon as we get you two equipped with your chips, you can have free run of the place."

"Where's Parker?" Felicia asked.

"He is still unconscious in one of our newer cells. The Goblin really did a number on him, it doesn't seem like our Spider-Man is as great as we thought." Stryker sniffed.

Felicia kept her face indifferent.

"Seeing how you all keep losing or destroying my chips, I have to have Scarlet go to our facility in Argentina. In other words, you will have to remain in this cell until tomorrow night at the earliest. I will _not_ allow you to see anyone before then. We can't have any more incidents like the last time."

Felicia didn't answer. She kept the smile from her face as Stryker left the room, shutting the door behind him.

This at least gave Peter another day to find them before Stryker installed the chips again. It would be a lot easier to rescue them all if they weren't trying to kill him. She just hoped he was able to find the place in time.

A few minutes passed and just as she was about to sit back down, the door opened again. Instead of Stryker, this time the Goblin entered her room.

"I thought Stryker said _nobody_ was allowed to see me before tomorrow night?" Felicia crossed her arms.

The Goblin shrugged. "What he doesn't know won't hurt him."

Felicia narrowed her eyes at him. "Excuse me? What makes you so special that you can just go against his orders?" she mocked him.

He grinned his razor sharp teeth at her. "The mind control doesn't affect me like it does the others."

"What do you mean?" Felicia dropped her arms to her side, scrutinizing him. He had this smug look on him.

"Well, the electrocution still gets me. He can still use the kill-switch on me, but the mind control..." the Goblin shook his head, smiling all the while.

Well, this was new. "How does it not affect you?" she pressed. Neither Harry or the Goblin had ever mentioned it before.

"Let's just say it's a good thing that our buddy Harry has that whole split personality thing going for him. The chip affects him while it's active, but it allows me to come out for the period of time that it is active. I don't think Stryker was prepared to use the chip on someone with prior split personality disorder."

Felicia just slowly nodded. "And why are you telling me all of this?" She questioned. She had a bad feeling in her stomach, usually when people revealed things like this to you, they were planning on getting rid of you soon after.

"Because I know one of _your_ secrets." he began walking around the room. Felicia would turn her body to make sure he was always in front of her.

"What secret are you talking about?" she suppressed her worry with complete unconcern.

The Goblin stopped walking and stared at her for a moment. "Where is Peter Parker, Felicia?"

Her heart skipped a beat. "Stryker literally just told me he was being held in a newer cell, unconscious thanks to you."

"I knew from the second that bomb hit the ground that that was not Parker. Parker would have tried saving you, not running away to save himself."

Felicia shook her head. "Of course that was Peter. He was running to his children to make sure they were safe. Who else would that be?"

The Goblin smiled and nodded. "Does this look like Peter Parker to you?" he passed his phone to her which was paused on a video. His fingers brushed her hand as he put the phone into her hand. She shuddered.

Felicia played the video and watched as the unconscious shifter shifted from Peter Parker, to Harry, to Gwen, to Mary Jane, to Lila Barton. Felicia gulped. the Goblin took back his cell phone.

"Who else knows?" Felicia practically whispered.

The Goblin shrugged again. "Well, us and whoever you told. I didn't tell anyone, yet." he pocketed the phone.

"Why?" This didn't make any sense to her.

"Does it matter?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, it does," she said.

"Why?" he repeated with a smile. She smiled back, only for a moment.

She sniffed. "I couldn't tell you why."

The Goblin scrunched up his face with confusion for a moment before going back to his smug grin. "You know, Harry still has feelings for you. After all these years."

Felicia rolled her eyes at him. "Is that supposed to cause a reaction or something?"

"Just letting you know."

"You know, you seem a lot less violent than I remember the Goblin being," Felicia said. "What changed that?"

The Goblin's mouth pressed into a thin line before answering. "The experimentation caused mine and Harry's mind to fuse even more so than it was. I feel many things he feels now." He walked closer to Felicia. "Regret, guilt, fear, passion… lust."

He gave Felicia a wink.

"So why do you stay here?" she wondered. "Why keep that chip in your head?"

"I thought that was obvious. Harry can't get rid of me with the chip in our head," he said seriously.

"So you'd rather live as Stryker's servant than to be free?" she questioned.

"Funny," he started. "Parker asked me almost the same thing. But, the answer is, I still wouldn't be free without the chip. Harry would be the one in control and I would only be able to slip through the cracks occasionally."

"Is Stryker planning on killing any of us?" Felicia asked suddenly.

The Goblin narrowed his eyes at her. "I hope not."

The corner of Felicia's mouth twitched at his answer. "You 'hope' not?"

"Like I said before, Harry and I are much... closer in mind now. It would kill him to see either you or Parker dead. But, I can't disobey a direct order from Stryker, or else we will really be dead."

The room suddenly filled with blue blinking lights and an ear piercing siren started to ring out, filling the room.

"I've got to go," the Goblin said.

He was out of her room before she could respond.

* * *

Peter had to wait for three hours for the next flight to Colombia from New York. The flight itself took another four hours and then there was a delay at the airport when they landed. They had to wait on the plane for nearly another hour. Peter thought about just running off the plane, but decided it was better if he wasn't a security threat in another country.

It was 3:17 am by the time Peter left the Buenaventura Airport. The airport was close to the coastline. He hoped he would be able to find a boat at this time.

It was 85 degrees and pouring. His hoodie quickly became soaked, and he couldn't even bring his Spider-Man suit with him. He didn't want to risk being checked at the airports.

There were very few vehicles out at this time. Most of the people that were out were younger, most of them looked like couples or friends coming from bars. He noticed that there were a lot of stray dogs and cats in the area. The greenery of the area was very exotic, and Peter thought that, is he wasn't n the situation he was in right now, he would definitely think about coming back here for a vacation one day.

Every single boat rental place was closed. Well, what did he expect? He tried knocking on every single boating place, hoping that there was somebody inside cleaning up or something. The earliest place opened at 7:00 am and he really didn't want to wait another four hours, knowing his family was in danger.

Just when he was starting to think about "borrowing" a boat, an older man who looked to be about sixty or so, called out to him.

"Hola! Hablas espanol?" The older man had a bad limp and despite the rain, wasn't using an umbrella. He had brown and grey salt-and-pepper hair, and a long grey mustache.

"Oh, uh, no. Hablo ingles...?" Peter said, sounding unsure of himself.

The man gave out a friendly laugh. "My friend, you're not from around here are you?"

Peter shook his head as the man stopped in front of him. "No, I'm not. I really need to get somewhere by boat and none of these places are open."

"Ah, so that is why you are lingering outside of my boat rental." The old man looked over at the right to the building Peter was standing near.

"This is your place?" Peter smiled at this news. "I really _really_ could use your help right now. I need to get to Gorgona Island as soon as possible-"

"Ah, no. Ese lugar es malo! We don't go there." The smile on the old man's face dissolved. "No bueno." He shook his head.

Peter frowned. "No, it's fine. I know some people there and-"

"People have gone there and not come back." the old man informed him. "Es peligroso. Dangerous."

"Please, I have money." Peter dug into his pockets for his wallet. "This is very important. My family is in danger and I need to get there," he pleaded.

The old man stared at him for another moment before loudly sighing. "Senor, do you even know how to drive a boat?"

Peter opened his mouth and then closed it.

"I can get you there." The man consented. "It will take a couple hours to get there by boat. But, it is going to cost you extra for me to drive. Also extra because of where we are going."

"How much is it going to be?" Peter didn't care how much money he had to pay; he pulled out a couple hundreds. "I have three hundred dollars. Will that cover it?"

The old man's eyes lit up and he took the money from Peter's hand. "Si! Si! Come on, let's go." Peter followed him to the edge of the water. The man walked onto the dock up to a fishing boat that looked like it could hold eight or so people comfortably.

"So, I didn't catch your name," Peter said.

"You can call me Diego. What is your name, senor?" the man answered.

"Peter. Thank you so much for this, I really mean it."

"Let's just hope we are able to get back okay." the old man said gravely. He pulled the anchor out of the water and gestured for Peter to get into the boat.

"Don't worry, we will."

* * *

"I have to say, I am very impressed with the both of you," Stryker said as he stirred his cup of coffee. "When you say you're going to get something done, you get it done, and I thank you for that."

"Yes, sir," Scarlet answered, hands crossed behind her back.

"So there were no other casualties aside from the aunt?" Stryker asked, setting the stirrer down on the counter.

"Nope." the Goblin grinned, entering the room.

"How nice of you to join us." Stryker smiled. "Did you figure out what the level two alarm was for?"

The Goblin plopped down on the couch in the room. "Yup. Normie wanted to see Andrew, I guess. He tried opening up the cell without entering the code, hence why the alarm went off."

Stryker raised his eyebrow and continued to stare at the Goblin.

"...I let him know not to have any further interactions with Andrew until we have him chipped though," the Goblin continued.

Scarlet looked down at the Goblin on couch with a glare and slightly nudged her head in Stryker's direction. The Goblin gave her a questioning stare in response.

"Goblin, next time you address me I expect you to stand," Stryker said sternly.

"Right. Sorry, sir." he got up from the couch and mimicked Scarlet's stance. "My apologies."

"That's all right." Stryker waved it off. "As I was saying to Scarlet here, I am very impressed that you managed to capture all five of them, Spider-Man included."

"Thank you, sir," the Goblin replied.

"In fact, I am so…I'm going to use the word delighted... I am so delighted that you were about to bring me them, that I will ignore the fact that you directly disobeyed a command today," Stryker said, setting his coffee down.

"Sir?" he questioned.

The Goblin suddenly dropped to the floor, writhing in pain. He held his head as waves of crushing agony beat one by one against the back of his eyelids.

"Do not patronize me," Stryker growled out. "I know you just came back from Felicia's cell. I told you all not to interact with her, Andrew, or Parker unless I gave the okay. Are we clear?"

The Goblin, out of breath, managed to nod. "Y-yes, sir," he said weakly.

"Good. Because if you disobey another order, I will order you to kill either Felicia Hardy or Peter Parker. I know how you had a soft spot for them." Stryker smiled and picked his coffee back up.

Scarlet hadn't moved from her spot since she arrived. The Goblin managed to get back up to his feet, although they were still shaking slightly from the electrocution.

"Goblin, you are dismissed. Scarlet, I need you to go to the place we discussed to get more of my chips."

"Yes, sir," they both answered.

Stryker failed to see the look of pure loathing on the Goblin's face as he exited the room.


	26. Chapter 26

The sun was just starting to rise as Gorgona Island came into view. For the last couple of hours, Diego told Peter stories of previous boat tours he had. The one Diego had most enjoyed was when a mother whale and her calf had come right up next to his boat. Another time a swordfish had come right out of the water and almost impaled one of the members on the boat. Peter was very wary to get close to the water after hearing these stories.

"Ah, here we are. Gorgona Island," Diego said as the boat started to slow down.

The island didn't look too big. From here it looked like mainly exotic trees and near the back there were some small mountains.

"Do you know roughly about how big this place is?" Peter asked him.

"I believe it is about 26 square kilometers," Diego answered. Peter quickly converted it in his head, so it was about ten square miles. Not big at all. They should be easy to find.

"Do you know if there are any buildings on the island?"

The man looked at him warily. "There is an old prison on the south side of the island. It is abandoned though."

Peter nodded his head.

Diego brought the boat as close to the beach as possible and then dropped the anchor down. "Well, good luck finding _tu familia._ " He held out his hand.

"Thanks, Diego." Peter shook his hand. "You will wait here for us, right?"

"I do not want to be near this island any longer." Diego frowned.

"All I need to do is find my family. I _need_ to get them out of here." Peter dug into his wallet to double check he had his credit and debits cards on him. Thankfully, he did. "Look, if you wait and bring us back to the mainland, I will give you another $300."

The man looked torn. "I don't know-"

"Just give me a few hours," Peter pressed. He checked the time; it was just after 6:30 am. "We'll be back here by ten or eleven the latest. Can you do that?"

Diego nodded hesitantly. " _Si. Si._ But, I will leave if you are not back here at eleven."

Peter let out a relieved breath and readied himself to jump into the water to swim the rest of the way. His clothes were already soaked from the rainfall earlier that morning.

"Thanks again, Diego. I will see you in a few hours," Peter said as he stood at the edge of the boat.

"Let's hope so."

Peter jumped from the boat and swam the rest of the way to shore. The waves were relatively calm, and the rain had let up, so that was in his favor.

When he got to the beach, he turned around and waved to Diego. He waved back at Peter and sat down on his boat.

The sand on the beach was a beautiful white color. Peter looked at the trees before him and groaned. There was no sign of a trail or anything that hinted there was a building on the island. Diego had said it was on the south side, so that's the direction he ran towards.

There wasn't much wildlife he noticed as he passed through the trees. The one thing he did notice was the unusual amount of snakes on the island. He was sure he had passed by several coral snakes.

He dodged a falling tree branch, only to realize it was another snake! It was a boa constrictor, must have been twelve or so feet long. It was strange to see such a large snake on such a small island. Peter shivered.

It felt like he had been running for miles, and he had. He checked the time and was anxious when he saw that it had already been half an hour. There was still no sign of anything, just trees beyond trees. It was extremely humid, even for it being this early in the day.

About another mile later is when he heard the first trace of anybody else on the island. The sound of a truck was just a little further up ahead, in the same direction he was running. He had slowed for a moment to double check where the sound was coming from, and then he sprinted towards it.

The trees started to thin and Peter slowed down again. The sound of the truck had abruptly stopped.

There was movement up ahead, so Peter made sure to stay out of sight.

There was a dark green pickup truck parked on a dirt road. Two men wearing grey suits were outside of the truck, looking at one of the tires. Peter couldn't hear what they were saying, so he carefully got closer.

"See, I told you not to take that jump," one of the men said, shaking his head, "The tire is ruined."

The shorter man took out a pack of cigarettes and lit one up. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Quit complaining, at least this didn't happen all the way on the other side of the island."

"A half a mile is still a far walk," the taller man complained. "and I am not taking the heat for this. This was all you. If you hadn't gone off-roading, this wouldn't have happened."

"I was just going to say the tire blew out. We don't have to tell them the truth."

" _That_ would go over very badly for the both of us. If Stryker ever found out-"

"-Then he doesn't have to find out." The shorter man threw his cigarette on the ground and stomped on it. He lifted the hem of his shirt to reveal a gun strapped to his side.

Peter rolled his eyes. He really wished he had his web shooters right now. He was going to need a weapon.

"I know that little telepathic brat stole my gun," the taller man growled, looking at the other man's gun with annoyance.

The shorter man shrugged. "Hey, you were warned. And he has telekinesis, not telepathy."

"Whatever. Let's just start walking there now so we aren't too late."

Peter moved a foot forward, ready to surprise them and get his hands on the shorter man's gun when he felt a gust of wind behind him.

"Hi!" a familiar voice shouted from behind him.

"Geez!" Peter yelled, jumping back and nearly tripping over a large root. Normie was standing right there, trying to stifle his laughter.

Peter twisted his head back towards the two men walking up ahead on the trail. They stopped walking and were looking back towards their truck. They definitely had to have heard something.

"Shh," Peter whispered. The two men seemed to be talking to one another, but had decided not to go investigate. They turned around and continued walking.

"Normie, the shorter man over there on the trail has a gun on his belt. Can you get it from him without being noticed?"

Normie didn't answer, but appeared back in front of Peter in about five seconds.

"Here. I'm not supposed to touch guns." he practically shoved the gun into Peter's hands. "Your hoodie is wet."

"Yeah, I had to swim a little to get on the island." Peter shrugged.

"Give me it really quick." Normie held out his hands. Peter set the gun down on the ground next to his feet and then pulled his hoodie over his head.

"Here. It won't do you much good though," Peter said as he passed him the hoodie.

Normie took several big steps away from Peter and held the hoodie over his head. Then, his hand began to spin so quickly above his head that it looked like a blur.

"Here you go." Normie handed Peter back the hoodie. Peter felt it, and even though it was still slightly damp, at least it wasn't soaked anymore.

"Thanks," Peter said sincerely as he pulled the hoodie back over his head. "Normie, why are you all the way out here?"

"Stryker's sur- survel- his system thingy registered two people that were in close proximity to the island. So he told me to come out here and find out what was going on, because he knows I'm so fast nobody will see me." He grinned.

"But, you showed yourself to me," Peter stated.

"Because... I trust you," Normie said. "And you're my friend." He hugged Peter's leg and began to sniffle.

"Wh- what's wrong?" Peter asked, caught off-guard.

"I'm really really _really_ sorry, Peter!" he began to sob. "My mommy shot Aunt May!"

Peter's heart clenched. He hadn't had time to register what was happening with his aunt. There was no time between the airplane and trying to find a boat rental, and then the entire time on the boat there was no reception. He had no idea what condition his aunt was in.

Peter got down to Normie's level. "You have nothing to be sorry for. Remember, Felicia and I told you that the chips that Stryker put into people make them do things that they don't want to do. Your mother would have never done that."

Normie was still crying, trying to wipe the tears from his eyes. "A-and now Andrew is locked up in a cell and they won't let me see him. Felicia too!" he frowned.

"Where's Violet?"

"She was with my mommy last time I saw her." Normie began to hiccup.

"Okay Normie, is anybody hurt? Did they hurt anyone when you guys got to this island?" Peter asked.

Normie shook his head. "No, I don't think so. But, Stryker says I can see Andrew and Felicia again either tonight or in the morning tomorrow after he puts the special chips in their heads again."

"Stryker _told_ you about the chips?" Peter raised an eyebrow.

Normie nodded. "He doesn't know that I know what they're really for."

"That's good. Keep it that way." Peter was about to take off to follow the men to the building, but the kid looked like he had something to say. "What is it, Normie?"

"Peter, I don't want to live here anymore," Normie said quietly.

"No?" Peter asked him as he stood back up. "Why not?"

"I liked it better being with you guys. I just want Mommy and Daddy to come with though, but I know they can't." Normie took a pop tart out of his pocket and began eating it. "I think Stryker is planning on putting a chip in my head too."

"What makes you say that?"

"I just... hear things a lot because nobody really sees me." he shrugged. "And Stryker was talking with Mommy and he said that he thinks my time with you guys ruined me. He said it like something was wrong with me."

Normie started to sniffle again.

"Hey." Peter got down to his level again. "There is nothing wrong with you."

"Then why don't you like me?" Normie frowned at him.

Peter didn't say anything right away, but he pulled him into a hug.

From the start, Normie had been nothing but nice to him and his family. Even though he had been raised at this place and around criminals, he still knew the difference between right and wrong.

"I'm sorry for how I've acted towards you." Peter let go of him. "Believe me, it's not _you_. It's the situation. I have not been dealing with it as well as I should have, but I will try harder from now on. You are a part of my family just as much as Andrew and Violet are, okay?"

Normie looked unsure, but nodded anyways.

"I mean it, Normie _. I'm_ sorry. You have nothing to be sorry for."

"Okay," he answered in a small voice.

"Okay." Peter repeated. "Now, I need you to go back to Stryker and tell him that the people that his surveillance picked up were two people jet skiing near the island. Can you do that?"

"What's jet skiing?" Normie asked.

"Uh- just say you saw two people riding motorbikes on the water. Make sure to make it seem like they were just having fun, okay? We do not want Stryker to think they are a threat."

Normie's face relaxed into a smile and he nodded his head.

"Good. Then, I need you to come back here right away to meet me so I can plan this. Can you do that without being questioned?" Peter asked.

"Yup! I'm allowed nearly everywhere on the island." he grinned. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to get everyone I care about out of there, which includes you."

"Yay!" Normie shouted, hugging Peter's leg. "I'll be back in less than ten minutes!"

Then the kid was gone in a flash.

* * *

"Why did my mom decide to go with the name Scarlet?" Violet asked.

She was looking with interest at one of the old glider prototypes in the middle of the room.

The Goblin stood near the doorway to exit. They were both currently in what had once been the cafeteria when the prison had still been used for its original purpose many years ago. When Stryker had the building remodeled, he decided to use this room to store old tech in.

"Because she felt like it," the Goblin replied tonelessly.

"Who made this glider? Why don't you use it anymore?" she questioned as she began to inspect it.

The Goblin could sense her unease and worry. He had to hand it to her, she was playing it off quite well. He knew that she didn't really care about the glider. She didn't care about why Mary Jane's name was now Scarlet. She was trying to play him, or, well, all of them more likely. Since Scarlet had had to leave to meet with Stryker's "expert" researcher, Stryker had put him in charge of watching over Violet. She hadn't asked a single question about any of her family yet, aside from her mother.

This either meant she really was interested in Stryker's work and wanted to work alongside her mother and him, or else she was attempting to trick them so they would all let their guards down around her and she could hopefully help her family. The Goblin was almost certain that it was the latter option.

Yet he had done nothing to reveal her plan.

"Enough with the questions," he replied.

The doors to the room opened.

"Come now, the girl is asking you a question. The least you could do is answer it." Stryker strolled in.

The Goblin straightened up and cleared his throat. "Some associates of mine and Oscorp built that glider. It was an early design, the first one I used actually. Stryker and his engineers have built far superior models since then."

Violet nodded her head and gave him a small smile. "Cool."

Stryker walked up next to Violet and patted the older glider. "Are you having fun exploring the building?"

"Yes, sir," she replied. "Why does everyone refer to this place as 'the building' though? From what I understand, this is a research and experimentation facility. Why doesn't it have a name?"

She had moved on from the glider and was examining a weapon that used to shoot ice. It had jammed and was put in here with all the other miscellaneous items.

"It is much harder to find a place with no name," Stryker said. "Now, I actually have a few questions for you."

"Sir?" she set the weapon back on the table and gave him her full attention.

"Do you know why you are not locked up like the others?" Stryker asked.

He crossed his arms and stared at Violet, awaiting her response.

"No, sir. Although, I am glad not to be." She smiled.

Stryker gave a small chuckle. "The reason you are not locked up is because of him." He pointed over to the Goblin.

Violet turned her head towards the Goblin and pulled her eyebrows together in confusion. He kept his face blank.

"I don't understand," Violet said as she turned back to Stryker.

"The Goblin has a few new powers and gifts, thanks to me," Stryker said. "One of them being a sort of intuition about people. He can generally tell how a person is feeling, their true intentions, that kind of thing. Anyway, he told me how the entire way here he had a good feeling about you. That you were excited to meet your mother, interested to see what was on the island, intrigued by what it is we do."

The Goblin watched Violet's face carefully. She didn't give away any indication that anything he had just said was untrue. But now, she knew that he had lied to Stryker. He didn't exactly know why he did. He didn't really know why he did really any of the stuff he did lately. He had Parker right in front of him, and could have killed him instantly, but he didn't. He knew that the person locked up right now in the cell was not Parker, but he didn't say anything nonetheless.

He also knew that when Parker found out where his family was, he would come for them. Having Violet not locked in a cell would be easier for Parker to... but why did he care! That's what the Goblin hated. He didn't _care_ about other people, especially not Parker! What he did care about was staying alive and his freedom, being the one in control, not Harry. If Parker came to rescue his family, then something could happen to Stryker, and nobody would be any wiser about who did what. Then again, he felt indebted to Stryker for what he had done for him.

"I am absolutely interested in-" Violet started, but the doors to the room flew open and a whoosh of air followed.

"I found the two people," Normie said proudly.

Stryker stepped away from Violet and walked over to Normie. "That's great, Normie. Where are they, who are they, and did they have any weapons?"

"I've never seen them before, but they were on these motorbike things that were riding right on top of the water!" Normie said excitedly.

"Jet skis?" Violet asked.

Normie shrugged. "I don't know."

Stryker looked a little relieved. "Did they say anything that you could hear?"

"Not really. They were laughing a lot though. One of them said 'Mom is gonna kill us for taking these, we need to get back to the boat soon!' and I didn't hear anything else after that."

The Goblin could practically feel the relief flood off of Stryker. Normie, on the other hand, was feeling guilty about something. This interested the Goblin due to the fact that he _rarely_ felt that from him. Normie was hiding something.

"Just a couple of teenagers, most likely," Stryker said to himself. "Normie, you can- wait a second. How were you able to hear them without being seen, the sand is pretty far from the jungle."

Normie frowned for a half of a second before grinning widely. "If I run fast enough, I can run right on top of the water! They didn't notice the water splashing around me because of their water bike things."

Stryker bent down next to Normie. The Goblin subconsciously shifted into a more defensive position, worried that Stryker would also see through what Normie was hiding.

"I had no idea you could do that!" Stryker said with pride in his voice. "You continue to impress me, Normie."

The Goblin relaxed as Stryker got back up.

"Why don't you go outside and explore for a bit?" the Goblin asked.

"Okay, Daddy!" Normie flashed right next to him in a second and put both arms around him in a hug; another second and Normie was gone.

The Goblin didn't check what Normie had put into his pocket.

"Now, Violet. Where were we?" Stryker turned back towards her.

"Sir!" A man in a grey suit with short bleach blonde hair burst through the doors.

"What is it now?" Stryker growled. "It better be important, Charlie, because I am in the middle of a conversation with our young friend here."

Charlie hesitantly looked towards Violet, to the Goblin, and back to Stryker.

"It is, sir. It's Spider-Man, I- I think he's escaped somehow." The man was sweating bullets.

The Goblin inwardly grinned, he would hate to be in that man's position right now. Stryker wasn't one to take bad news lightly. Then again, this wasn't good. The Goblin knew Spider-Man didn't escape, because he had never been in that cell in the first place. But now, Stryker was also going to know that information.

"Escaped!?" roared Stryker. Violet leapt back from him a few feet. "How the hell could that happen!?"

"You'd better come see for yourself."

"Lead the way." Stryker gestured to Charlie. "Goblin, you and Violet, follow me."

The entire way to the cell, Stryker was mumbling obscenities under his breath. The Goblin couldn't help but crack a smile. When Stryker was angry, his entire face and neck practically glowed red.

"Sir." Charlie stopped in front of the cell. "I have no idea who this is."

Violet gave a small gasp when she looked into the cell. Stryker stared in shock at the brunette woman who was now standing in the cell, arms crossed. The baggy clothing, the Goblin assumed it had been Parker's, hung awkwardly from her.

"Who the hell are you and where is Spider-Man?" the Goblin through the slot on the door. Despite needing to keep up appearances, he was curious to know who this shifter person was.

The door side of the cell was made with the same missile-proof glass that Stryker had his engineers build for their hidden shelters.

"I think I know who that is..." Violet got closer to the glass. "You work at Oscorp. I see you whenever my brother and I go to visit our father."

"Do you want me to deal with her?" the Goblin took out his bowie knife.

"That won't be necessary," Stryker said as he walked over to the side of the cell and placed his hand onto the scanner and punched in his code.

"Sir?" The Goblin raised his voice. "With all due respect, she's the one who probably let Spider-Man go. Let me deal with her before she does any more damage."

"Calm yourself, Goblin," Stryker said as the glass door slid open. "She is on your side. She is one of you."

"What?" the Goblin asked through his teeth.

He was not expecting that at all. He grudgingly put his knife back into the holster.

"Stryker, sir," the woman addressed him as she came out of the cell.

She narrowed her eyes at Violet and the corner of her mouth twitched up into a smile. "Long time no see, Violet. Last time I saw you, your brother and you were trying to play hero in a burning apartment building." Violet backed up a couple steps.

The Goblin remembered that scene instantly. So he hadn't been crazy when he thought he saw Gwen. It had been the shifter. Stryker took Violet lightly by the arm and nudged her behind him. Stryker then held out his hand to the woman and she shook it.

"Hello again, Lila."


	27. Chapter 27

"Lila? Why have I not heard of you before? I know everyone that works here," the Goblin stared at the unfamiliar woman in front of him accusingly.

"She is my 'secret agent', so to speak." Stryker clapped her on the shoulder. "I had her assigned to watching the Parkers for me, about four years ago. I needed her to get close to Peter Parker, therefore she brilliantly became a personal assistant for him at Oscorp."

"The previous assistant had a small accident you see, so the job was open." She smiled smugly.

"My dad talked about you often." Violet's voice shook. "He liked you. He said you were a good person."

"It's water under the bridge now." Stryker waved his hand. "We are all on the same team now."

Lila raised an eyebrow at Violet, but didn't question what Stryker had said.

"Now, Miss Barton, can you please tell me how you got into this predicament, and where the real Spider-Man is?" Stryker questioned.

"I had followed Parker and the others to a hotel. I was on the top of the building opposite from the hotel, hiding behind a large air conditioning unit. That's when he-" Lila nodded at the Goblin, "-landed on the same building. I overheard his phone call, how he named off Parker, Violet, Andrew, Normie, Felicia, and Aunt May. From that I gathered that he had been ordered to take them in, dead or alive. That's when I slipped away and snuck over to the hotel. I tricked Parker by leading him away from his family, knocked him out and changed myself to look like him, sir."

The Goblin glanced over at Stryker, who did not look happy.

"Why didn't you let the Goblin know you were there, why hide?" Stryker asked.

Lila looked at the Goblin with uncertainty. "Well sir, the Goblin doesn't know who I am. He can be unpredictable, and he's let Parker escape before. I figured if I did it my way, we'd have less casualties."

The Goblin let out a low growl, his sharp teeth showing. Lila looked untroubled and continued. "My plan was to persuade the family to come to the island with Felicia and I, so that way we could keep them safe. That's when the Goblin and Scarlet showed up... I thought I would have had more time."

"And Spider-Man? Do you know where he is now?" Stryker pressed.

"Last time I saw him, he was knocked out on the side of the hotel by some bushes. I don't know where he would be now, but the injection definitely has worn off by now."

Stryker swore. "I need to make a couple phone calls. Charlie, please go check on our other new arrivals. Goblin, you three wait here."

As Stryker turned around the corner, Lila turned her head back to the Goblin. "So, what's with the pint-sized spider, why isn't she locked up like her brother?" she pointed with her thumb towards Violet.

He looked towards Violet. She was biting on her bottom lip and was looking at the empty cell with a worried expression on her face. So _that's_ why she hadn't even asked about her 'unconscious' father. She must have known it was an imposter. The Goblin wondered if Andrew and Normie were aware as well.

"She's interested in Stryker's work," he replied. "Stryker said your last name was Barton. That wouldn't be Lila Barton as in Clint Barton's daughter, would it?"

"That's right," Lila answered him and then turned towards Violet. "Is that right, Violet? Are you interested in Stryker's work?"

"So how did you go from being the daughter of Hawkeye, an avenger, to Stryker's 'secret agent'?" the Goblin interrupted.

Lila smiled and her eyes remained on Violet as she answered. "I wanted to be an avenger. My father wouldn't let me. That's all you need to know. Violet, answer my question."

"Yes, I am." Violet crossed her arms. "The new things my brother can do are unbelievable. I'm hoping that he can do the same for me."

"I see." Lila raised an eyebrow at her.

"She's telling the truth," the Goblin said indifferently. "I can sense it in her. The entire helicopter ride over she was excited, interested, and intrigued."

Lila tore her face from Violet and she looked up at the Goblin.

"Is that right?" Lila smiled deviously. "Because from what I remember in a certain burning apartment building that _you_ had said to Violet, and I quote, 'You want to follow in his footsteps. You want to help people, to save people and make the world a better place.'"

The Goblin kept his face blank. "Things changed."

"Yes, they have." Lila looked him up and down. "There is something different about you as well. You seem... well I guess calmer wouldn't be the right word. You seem less insane."

"Is that supposed to mean anything to me?" the Goblin asked in a bored voice.

"You see, Stryker told me certain information that would allow me to do my job easier. As Parker was my main objective, obviously I was told everything about you. How you two knew each other since you were small children, how he betrayed you, everything. That includes how you were brainwashed all those years with the chip in your head to hate Peter Parker. You wanted him dead."

The Goblin glanced over towards where Stryker had left to see if he was coming back yet. Nobody was coming this way.

"I don't have to be brainwashed to hate Parker," the Goblin growled.

"I have to say, when you saw me at that playground imitating Parker, I thought for sure you were going to kill me thinking I was really him. Then I woke up in that cell, alive, which got me thinking for a couple hours until that guard came and found me. If you truly hated Parker, you would have damn well made sure he was dead when you had the chance. Which either means that you don't want him dead, or for some insane reason, you knew it wasn't really him and so you brought me to Stryker so that he would think he had Spider-Man."

"You sound crazy, you know that?" the Goblin shook his head and clicked his tongue.

"No, you know what I think-" Lila's face abandoned all pretense, "-I think that the night that your chip was forcibly removed from your head, I think all that brainwashing faded away somehow. You no longer feel that extreme hatred towards him. In fact, you want to keep him alive for Harry Osborn. You want Stryker dead so you don't have to obey him anymore."

The Goblin's expression darkened with an unreadable emotion. "Even if any of that were true, how the hell would you know that?" he growled out.

Lila took a couple steps towards him and lowered her voice to a whisper. "Because, if I look into someone's eyes and concentrate hard enough, I can hear what they're thinking. All it took was saying the word 'spider', and you were an open book."

Suddenly the Goblin's hand darted forward, grabbing Lila by the neck and slamming her into the wall behind him.

"You _bitch_ ," he spat out. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't just kill you?"

Lila managed to get out a laugh, until she saw him put his bowie knife up to her throat. "B-because, we both want the same thing."

"Bullshit, you're already free. You _want_ to help him." He tightened his hold on her.

"Not that-" she couldn't get another word out. She struggled to get his hand off her throat.

"Don't kill her," he heard Violet say from behind him. "Can't you just put her back in the cell?"

"Then Stryker would just let her out and she would tell him everything," he growled. "Besides, I _want_ to kill her."

"Then you'll just have to explain to Stryker why you killed her," Violet said.

The Goblin turned around to look at her. "Stay out of this," he spat.

But then, looking at her, he got an idea. He slightly lessened his hold on Lila's neck.

"Change into spider junior over there. Now." He ordered her.

"Wh- why?" she looked bewildered, still trying to pry his hands off.

"Do it. Or you die right now." He pushed the tip of the knife to her throat, just hard enough to break the skin.

She started to blur and a moment later he had a Violet look-alike by the neck. He quickly brought his arm back and hit her in the jaw, causing the back of her head to hit the wall. She was out cold instantly. The Goblin picked up her body and tossed it into the cell, slamming the door shut behind him. He then turned to Violet.

"I want you to understand _, I_ don't care about any of you. Osborn might, but I am not him. I'm doing what I'm doing to get out of this place. I cannot stand another day taking orders like this. Especially from a megalomaniac like Stryker. You make one fucking mistake and the guy electrocutes you as if he's training some dog," the Goblin spit disgustedly. Violet stared at him with wide eyes. "The _only_ reason that I am going to help the others is because nobody deserves to be owned by someone else. _Nobody_."

Violet quickly nodded her head up and down but didn't speak.

"After I do what needs to be done, we part ways. You make sure to let Parker know not to come and find me. If he continues to pursue me, I _will_ end him," he said seriously.

"What do I do now?" Violet asked as she looked at the shifter's body in the cell.

"You can't be seen by anyone, especially Stryker, until I take care of a few things. Follow me, quickly."

He walked to the end of the hallway and turned right, Violet following at his heels. There was a door, he put his hand up to the scanner and then punched in the code, opening the door. It was a door to the outside.

"Go hide in there for awhile. Don't be heard. Don't be seen. If you blow my cover… well, you should hope I don't ever see you after that, because I will kill you." The Goblin shoved her outside.

"How will we get home after all of this?"

The Goblin just gave her a nonchalant shrug. "Not my problem."

Just as he shut the door, he heard a quiet "Thank you." from her.

The Goblin quickly walked back to the area in front of the shifter's cell, who was still out cold on the floor. Seeing as he was alone, he pulled out what Normie had stuck into his pocket. It was a piece of paper with a map of the island on it. An area of the island was circled in red ink, which was where the building was located. In the lower right hand corner, drawn in crayon, was a little drawing of a spider. Under the spider were the words, "He's here right now. He's going to help us Daddy!"

He was going to have to have to teach Normie how to be more discrete. He folded the paper back up and pocketed it. Just in time too, as Stryker turned around the corner ten seconds later.

"Scarlet is on her way back now, I told her to turn around and come back-" Stryker paused mid-sentence.

"What the hell happened here?" Stryker questioned as he looked in the cell. "Where did Lila go?"

"Sir, when you were gone, Lila was antagonizing Violet. I could feel things were about to get bad, so I told Lila to go upstairs and wait for us in the tech room. Violet was upset and attempted to leave, saying she thought her father was here and that she didn't want to be here without him. Hence why I threw her in the cell," the Goblin said without missing a beat.

Stryker took out a device and suddenly the Goblin's head erupted in blinding white pain. He dropped to the floor instantly.

"S-stop!" he yelled out in agony.

"I spoke to you directly, Goblin. I said for you three to wait here," Stryker said slowly.

The Goblin yelled out again, clawing at his head. "I don't know what you want me to say!"

Stryker threw his hands up in the air as if lecturing a child. "What's the longest you've been under the chip's electrocution? Ten seconds? Fifteen? Well, you're up to twenty already. Should we see if you can last a minute?"

"Stryker!" he managed to shout.

Goblin's skin felt like it was on fire. But the worst pain was his head; it was like he could literally feel the electricity bouncing around inside his skull.

"You're up to thirty," Stryker said in an amused tone.

It felt like the veins in his head were exploding. He wasn't going to beg, though. He would just have to wait this out. If it didn't kill him first. After what seemed like forever, it finally ended.

Stryker let out a low whistle. "Forty-five seconds. New record. Just be grateful that I didn't let it go for a full minute."

The Goblin looked at his hands, they were shaking like crazy. They were also bloody. He must have broken the skin from clawing at himself. Stryker grabbed the Goblin by his hair and lifted his head off the ground.

"This is your _last_ mistake," Stryker hissed. "If you disobey me one more time, and I don't even care if it's as small as you accidentally putting an extra sugar in my coffee, I will annihilate you. I saved your life, and I can take it away just as easy."

Stryker slammed the Goblin's head onto the ground. He got up and straightened out his suit.

"As I was saying before, Scarlet will be here shortly. With Spider-Man's entire family here, I'm sure he's going to be looking for them. I've decided that I no longer have use of him. When you two find him Goblin, I want you to kill him."

Stryker left him there without another word.

* * *

"Come on Normie, where are you?" Peter paced around anxiously.

The kid was only a couple minutes later than he said, but they were on a time limit. This time, Peter knew the whooshing sound he heard meant Normie had arrived.

"I'm back!" Normie announced. "Stryker believed my story. I saw Violet and she was okay. She's with my Dad!"

"Why is she with him, where's your mom at?" Peter questioned.

"I don't know." Normie shrugged. "So what's the plan?"

"Do you know how many guards are on this island?"

"Yup! Five!"

Peter looked at him dubiously. "There are only five guards on this island?"

"Mhm." Normie nodded his head. "There are two guards who are hired to watch the outside of the building. They were the ones who broke their truck. One guard watched the front entrance of the building. There's the one who stands guard outside of Stryker's room, even I'm not allowed in there. And then the last guard he watches the prisoners, makes sure they don't starve or anything like that. His name is Charlie. Daddy says he does the 'bitch work.'"

Peter snorted with laughter.

"What?" Normie asked, furrowing his brow.

"Nothing, nothing. Okay so, wow, five guards. That's nothing. Other than our family, the guards, and Stryker, who else is in the building?"

"Just a couple people in the cells."

"Where is everyone? I thought he was building some kind of army." Peter said, more to himself than anything.

"A lot of people that come don't make it out. Much more often than not, they die from the experiments. I know that my dad has been ordered to destroy many of the experiments that Stryker no longer wanted." Normie said sadly.

Some stuff wasn't adding up here to Peter. Stryker had been here on this island for at least ten years now, how come he only had a handful of these super humans?

"Okay, well... Is there an easy way we can get into the building without setting off any alarms?" Peter asked hopefully.

"Yup!" Normie held up his hand. "My handprint can get us inside. I'm one of the few people with that kind of access."

"Awesome." Peter smiled. "Then let's go save our family."


	28. Chapter 28

Peter and Normie were at the edge of the jungle, just out of sight from any of the guards. Normie had informed Peter that the guards all had wristbands and could set off different sirens with the push of a button.

"So, who all has their hand print on file to unlock the doors in there?" Peter asked.

"Well, Stryker has full access to everything. My mom and dad have secondary level; they have access to everything here and our secret bunkers, but they cannot get into Stryker's secret room. Charlie and me have third level; we have access to the doors here, but not the secret bunkers or obviously Stryker's secret room," said Normie.

"Who's Charlie?" Peter asked while watching the two guards from the truck walk around the side of the building. Normie had picked the door nearest to the cells to get inside.

"He's the guard that works with the people who're brought here. I like him. He lets me take extra snacks from the kitchen." Normie then dug in his pocket and pulled out a Milky Way bar and began to eat it.

"Wait, so none of the other guards have access to opening up doors or cells or anything like that? How do they get in and out of the building? And what do you mean 'mutants' are brought here? I thought you said Stryker mainly brought people who were sick or dying?"

"The other guards have to page Charlie, who will let them in. Stryker says the less people he gives these privileges to, the better. Felicia used to have secondary level, but he deleted her file after she left us. And Stryker says that all mutants are born sick. That's why he brings them here, to try to make them better. But most of the time he can't do anything for them and they die," Normie said with a doleful look.

None of this was making any sense to Peter.

"Okay, the guards are gone." Peter nodded to the area they had walked off to. "Let's get to that door now."

As soon as Peter took one step out of the jungle, he heard another voice from behind him.

"Dad!?"

He turned around and Violet was climbing down from one of the trees near them. He quickly stepped back into the trees.

"Vi? What are you doing out here?" he asked as she jumped to the ground. "What happened to you?"

"The Goblin let me out. He said I needed to hide." She looked shaken. "I'd only been out here for maybe ten minutes before you two showed up."

"The _Goblin_ let you out?" Peter repeated. "This has to be some kind of trick."

Peter twisted around to see if he could see anybody watching them.

"I gave a note to my dad," said Normie. "I told him you were coming, Peter! Maybe that's why he is helping Violet."

"You told him!?" Peter hissed. "Normie, there is no way I'm going to be able to get inside if they know I'm coming."

Normie shook his head. "He won't say anything, I swear. He doesn't like living here either."

Peter groaned and ran his fingers through his hair.

"It's true, Dad. The Goblin let me out and told me to hide so the others wouldn't see me. He kept me from being locked up in a cell like Andrew and Felicia. He said he wants Stryker gone so he can leave this place," Violet said.

"Well, until we get Harry back, I don't want you around him anymore."

Even if what they were saying was true, the Goblin was still a homicidal super human that didn't have any qualms about killing people.

"Fine with me," she agreed, shivering. "So, what's the plan?"

"Normie is going to get me inside. And then we're going to get Andrew and Felicia out of there. We need to somehow incapacitate the Goblin and Scarlet, in order to remove the chips from their heads. And we need to deal with Stryker," said Peter.

"What should I do?" Violet asked.

" _You_ are not going back in there," Peter said sternly. "You're already out, so that's one thing I don't have to worry about now. There's a man in a boat to the north of here. If you follow that dirt path all the way to a broken down truck about half a mile from here. Then I need you to run straight through the jungle. It took me about thirty minutes to get to the truck from the beach so if you use your webbing, you'll get there faster."

"Okay, Dad." Violet nodded. "Please be careful. Both of you."

"You too, Vi. I love you." Peter kissed the top of her head.

"Love you, Dad." Violet hugged the both of them and then sped off, following the dirt road while staying hidden in the trees.

Peter turned to Normie. "You ready?"

Normie responded by dashing to the door. Peter sprinted to the door before any of the guards could see them.

"What's behind this door again?" Peter asked as Normie got on the tip of his toes in order to place his hand on the scanner. It flashed green and Normie began typing in his code.

"This is the hallway where most of the cells are. There are a few more cells in the basement. Charlie might be in here, but he might also be at the front entrance letting in those other guards." Normie told him as the door opened up.

Peter walked in first with Normie close behind him. It was dimly lit in the hallway, although it looked like someone kept up with the cleaning.

They turned left, Peter making sure to check behind the corner before stepping out. There were two cells next to each other, one being empty and the other one held...

"Felicia!" Peter loudly whispered. "Normie, open up her cell."

Felicia saw who it was and got to her feet. The door slid open and Felicia stepped out, a wary look in her eyes.

"Thanks, kid." She smiled at Normie and then turned to Peter. "How do I know you're not that shifter son of a bitch again?"

Peter's eyes widened. "I'm not. We just got you out of that cell, didn't we?"

"Prove it." She crossed her arms.

"How? We don't have time for this."

A harsh groan echoed down the hallway and they all froze.

Normie turned his head towards the sound. "I think that's my dad!"

"Wait-" Peter tried to say, but Normie was gone before he heard one word.

Before either of them had time to react, Normie appeared in front of them again.

"It _is_ him. He's hurt. Follow the hallway," Normie reported before racing off again.

"Come on, let's go." Peter gestured for her to follow Normie.

"You first." Felicia kept her arms crossed.

Peter shook his head and sighed. "Fine, come on."

The hallways were all similar; dimly lit with two cells alongside each other. Peter noticed that most of them were empty, other than two. He decided he would come back and check out the others after he found out what was happening up ahead with Normie and the Goblin.

"No, dammit!" he heard the familiar voice of the Goblin growl out.

Peter hurried and turned around the last corner. The Goblin was sitting on the ground, with his hands wrapped around his abdomen.

"Well, go freeze her! It will buy us a few minutes!" the Goblin yelled at Normie.

The kid was gone in less than a second.

"What the hell happened?" Felicia asked, while keeping Peter in her peripheral vision.

"The kid let out the shifter who I had just locked in that cell," the Goblin said in a strangled way. "He thought she was the little Spiderette and let her out without a second thought." He looked accusingly at Peter.

Felicia sent Peter an apologetic shrug.

"And you couldn't stop her?" Peter shot back at him.

The Goblin curled his lip in disdain. "I just had my insides electrified to a pulp. I guess needing a few minutes to recover makes this my fault."

"I wasn't aware that had happened." Peter held his hand out to the Goblin to help him get up off the floor.

"Get the hell away from me, Parker." The Goblin shoved his arm away as he quickly jumped up off the floor, slightly stumbling.

Normie appeared in front of them. "Okay. She's frozen as the same person that she left the cell as, so she doesn't look like Violet anymore."

"Apparently the shifter was sent to spy on the Parker residence on Stryker's orders." The Goblin huffed out a laugh. "As your personal assistant, Lila Barton."

"Lila!?" Peter and Felicia both shouted.

"Okay, that can be addressed later," Peter said, shaking his head, not wanting to believe what he had just heard. "Where are they keeping Andrew?"

"Basement cells," the Goblin answered as he wiped the blood off of the sides of his face. "Felicia can show you. It won't be long before Stryker knows you're here, so I'm going to deal with him now."

"Are you sure you're alright to fight?" Felicia questioned him.

"It's now or never." The Goblin shrugged.

Peter turned towards Normie. "There were two more people in the cells back there. Can you help me open them?"

Normie nodded his head and followed Peter back around the corner.

Peter looked into the first cell and tilted his head. Instead of a person, there was an animal, a wolf. It had beautiful red fur and was staring at him curiously.

"Normie, why does Stryker have an animal here?" Peter asked. The wolf began to circle the room.

"That's Wolfsbane. She can change from a person to a wolf. She hasn't been here too long, but she's nice to me because sometimes I can sneak her extra food!" Normie explained to Peter as he punched in the code and opened up the door.

The wolf walked up to the door and looked up at the Peter.

"Uh- we're freeing anyone who's here. There's a boat on the northern side of the island waiting for all of us. If you want to escape with us, go there." Peter felt a little ridiculous speaking to an animal, but the wolf dipped it's head in understanding.

Wolfsbane took a few steps towards Normie and licked his face, one long stroke from his chin to his forehead. The child giggled and ran his hand through the fur on the wolf's neck.

"Come on, follow me!" Normie ran down the hallway, at a speed where the wolf could keep up.

Peter moved on to the other occupied cell in the hallway. His eyes widened in disbelief as he saw who was sitting in the corner of the room.

"Clint? Clint Barton?" Peter said through the slot in the door of the cell.

The man slowly glanced over at the door, but said nothing. "You're Hawkeye," he pressed.

"Unless you're here to let me out, I have nothing more to say to you people." He looked back towards one of the walls in his cell.

"You're in luck." Peter grinned, "Because we're here to do just that. And I'm not one of them."

Clint rolled his eyes. "Sure you're not, pal."

Peter felt the familiar whoosh of wind and Normie already had his hand on the scanner. Clint stood up as Normie began to punch in his code. The second the door opened. Clint lunched for Peter, but Peter jumped backwards and clung to the wall.

"So, you are one of them!" he accused Peter. "You just opened the door!"

Peter dropped to the floor and put his hands out in a non-threatening way. "There's no time to explain. I'm here to rescue my family. That includes him." Peter nodded his head towards Normie. "There's a boat waiting for us on the northern side of the island, Normie can lead you to it."

Clint studied them for several moments. Peter began to get impatient; a guard could spot them at any moment and he still needed to find Andrew's cell!

"Thanks for the offer, but I need my bow. I know it's here somewhere and I'm not leaving without it." Clint took off down the hallway. "See you around!" he yelled just as he disappeared around the corner.

"Let's go get Andrew!" Normie said.

"Okay, let's-" Peter stopped when the two cell doors slammed shut in front of him. He looked down at Normie. "That was... odd."

An ear-piercing siren filled the hall. Red lights flashed.

"Crap. Looks like we set off an alarm," Peter said. "Let's hurry up and get to Andrew. Hopefully your dad takes care of Stryker soon so we can figure out a way to get MJ so we can take her chip out." He practically had to yell to be heard over the sirens.

Normie didn't budge. He instead looked up at Peter with his mouth slightly open and a dejected look on his face.

"What? What is it?" Peter questioned anxiously.

"The lights are red. That means Stryker set them off himself." Norman frowned as he pointed to one of the flashing lights on the ceiling.

"That's okay, buddy. With your dad on our side, this should go a lot smoother than I had originally hoped."

"This is a level 1 security lockdown. Nobody can get in or out of the building. Any door that has a scanner or code can't even be opened. Unless Stryker is the one who opens it. Only his code can override a locked down door."

Peter sighed heavily. "Which means..."

"...we need Stryker in order to get Andrew out of his cell." Normie finished for him.

A static noise suddenly sounded by the speakers near the flashing red lights.

"Attention Spider-Man!" Peter could just barely hear Scarlet's voice on the loud-speaker over the sirens. "Report to the atrium immediately. If you do not comply, we will be forced to kill Felicia Hardy. We will then flood your son's cell with a toxic gas that will kill him in less than sixty seconds. You have five minutes."

And then the loud-speaker went dead.


	29. Chapter 29

The Atrium was located fairly close to the front entrance. Peter pushed open the heavy front doors and cautiously walked into the spacious room. Normie followed closely behind him. There were two floors, with stairs leading up to the second floor on both sides. Both floors had steel-barred prison cells lined up on the sides; these were the ones the prison had actually used when it was running.

Light filled the room and Peter looked up to see that the ceiling had a semi-transparent glass window. The back wall held a see-through glass room with one entrance. Peter assumed that the room was for the prison guard on duty; there were several screens playing footage of the prison. The last thing he noticed about the room was that there was a large metal plate right outside.

Something splashed when he stepped forward. Looking down, he saw the two guards from the broken down truck in the jungle lying there, both dead, in a pool of blood. The taller of the two had his hands on his stomach where his shirt was soaked. His neck was bent at an odd angle and his throat looked as if it had been torn open. In fact, it looked like someone had _bitten_ through his neck right through the jugular, which would explain the excessive amount of blood on the floor. Peter felt sick.

He picked Normie up and walked past the bodies, setting Normie down on the ground when they were passed the blood. He didn't want the kid to have to walk through that.

Stryker, the coward, was standing in the middle of the glass room, his hands behind his back. Before Peter confronted him, he quickly scanned the room, seeing who else was in here with them.

On the left side, and closest to him, was the Goblin and another one of the guards. Peter could just read the name tag on the man's shirt; Charlie. Peter made a mental note that there should only be two other guards; one who must have gotten locked outside when the lockdown began, and the other was guarding Stryker's room.

Charlie, who was quite obviously nervous, had a small device in his shaking hands and was standing several feet behind the Goblin. Peter momentarily wondered what the device was, since he could see the guard's gun in its holster and was wondering why he didn't have that out instead. The Goblin was kneeling with his hands joined behind the back of his head. There was fresh blood dripping down his chin. He smirked at Peter, showing off his bloody razor sharp teeth, before closing his mouth again.

On the right side of the room, in the same manner as the Goblin and Charlie, was Felicia and Lila. Lila had her gun aimed at Felicia's head, who was kneeling just like the Goblin. Unlike Charlie, Lila didn't seem nervous at all. She looked at Peter with a smug grin on her face, and shrugged one her shoulders. Peter narrowed his eyes at her, still unable to believe that the awkward, clumsy assistant he had come to befriend was working for Stryker.

Directly in the middle of the room was Scarlet. She looked indifferent to the situation, and had a gun locked on...

"Aunt May!" Peter yelled in both relief and worry. Last time he had seen her was when the ambulance was taking her away to treat her gun shot. Now she was kneeling in front of Scarlet, her eyes wide with fear.

"Peter, help me please!" Aunt May cried out.

"Let her go! She has nothing to do with any of this!" Peter yelled at Stryker.

Stryker lifted an eyebrow at Peter but said nothing.

"If you want her, come and get her," Scarlet said, putting her gun away and crossing her arms.

She took several steps backwards, away from his aunt.

"Stay here, Normie," Peter mumbled before running towards his aunt.

She must be so terrified right now, he thought.

"It's going to be fine, Aunt May." Peter bent over to help her up, but his hands went right through her.

He frowned and attempted to pick her up again, but it was like she was a hologram. Just like when...

Peter turned his head to the new arrival in the room. Mysterio was looking down at them from the second story near the stairs. The hologram of Aunt May disappeared.

"Where is she!?" Peter shouted.

"Not here," Scarlet said dismissively. "Once Mysterio heard your name, Spider-Man, he said he wanted in. Apparently you foiled a couple bank robberies of his?"

"Where is she?" Peter repeated through his teeth.

"Your aunt is dead," Stryker told him, without any sort of remorse.

"You can't know that. She was being loaded into the ambulance when I saw her last. She was alive." Peter's voice shook.

Stryker sighed and rubbed his temple as if he were trying to explain something to a child. "She died from internal bleeding on the way to the hospital. Scarlet thought it might be an entertaining trick, so I allowed Mysterio to partake on the act."

"It's true, Peter," Felicia said in a bitter voice. Peter turned to her. "I saw Scarlet shoot her. There was no way she was going to live long enough to even see the hospital. I'm sorry."

"Whoops," Scarlet said with a grin.

Peter glared daggers at Scarlet. He knew it wasn't really MJ that shot Aunt May, but it didn't make it any easier. He just wanted to get that chip out of her so he could have _his_ MJ back, not this twisted version of her.

"One down and three to go," Stryker said approvingly to Scarlet before speaking to Peter. "I'm going to be frank with you, Mr. Parker. You have continually disrupted our missions, and stolen my property, _despite_ getting several warnings. For that, I am going to have you and your family... exterminated." Stryker chuckled at his own joke. "Good thing we already have Andrew locked up here. I'll have someone go fetch Violet out in that jungle after we deal with you."

"You're not going to hurt them. You wouldn't have worked this hard to get us here," Peter said to him.

"I believe I'll be fine cutting my loses with the bunch of you. Besides, I acquired all the data I needed from your son," Stryker said with a sly smile.

"Are you sure we have to kill him?" Scarlet made a fake pout face. "He's adorable when he's angry." She winked at Peter.

"Scarlet," Stryker jokingly chastised her.

Peter took several steps backwards from Scarlet, making sure he had everyone in his sight. He still had the gun that Normie stole from the guard for him. He wondered if he fired at Stryker, would the walls be the same blast-proof glass that the cells and safe rooms were made of? It was safe to assume they were, otherwise Stryker wouldn't be so willing to be out in the open like that.

"Goblin," Stryker addressed him. "It is time that you execute the command I gave you. Kill Peter Parker. The world has had enough of Spider-Man."

"No," the Goblin growled in reply.

Everyone, including Scarlet, turned their heads towards him in various degrees of awe, confusion, and anger.

"Excuse me?" Stryker said in a low voice, slightly red in the face. "I _demand_ that you kill him."

The Goblin shook his head.

"No," he repeated, his tone menacing.

He took his hands off the back of his head and dropped them down to his sides, looking at Stryker defiantly.

Stryker looked at the guard behind the Goblin. "Charlie?"

Peter saw the guard nod to Stryker and then push one of the buttons on the device he was holding. Suddenly, the Goblin dropped to the ground, writhing in pain. His teeth were clenched shut, Peter assumed it was so he wouldn't yell out.

"Stop!" Peter and Felicia both shouted at the same time.

Charlie glanced over at Stryker, who held his hand out in a 'that's enough' gesture. The guard pressed the button again and the Goblin stopped convulsing.

"That the best you got?" the Goblin laughed humorlessly, clutching his abdomen.

"Kill Spider-Man," Stryker said simply.

"Go to hell," the Goblin replied, bracing himself just before Charlie pressed the button.

The guard did not look like he was enjoying this; and he turned the electricity off sooner this time. Peter did not want this to go on. The Goblin was not his friend, but he knew Harry was feeling everything too. Normie had gravitated back to Peter, clinging on to the back of his leg.

"Change your mind yet?" Stryker questioned.

"Why don't you have one of them do it?" Goblin asked between breaths. "Scarlet is just as capable as me."

"Because I appointed _you_ to this task. It's punishment for disobeying me," said Stryker.

"If you're just gonna kill me, then do it!" the Goblin yelled. "I'm done being your lackey."

"Hmm..." Stryker began, "you've been a tremendous help all these years you've been with us, Goblin. How about this: kill Spider-Man. If you succeed, I will guarantee your freedom. If you want, I can even put a new chip in your head that will not be connected to any devices I own, that way you will still be in control over Harry Osborn."

The room was dead silent.

"You'd let me leave? No more missions, no more orders?" the Goblin asked, uncertainty in his voice.

He hadn't looked at Peter once since the guard had electrocuted him. Peter glanced at Felicia. She looked back and forth between Peter and the Goblin. She looked concerned about the situation, unable to tell which direction the Goblin was going to go.

"Yes," Stryker answered simply.

The Goblin laughed once, his face twisted between hope and disbelief. "How do I know you're telling the truth?"

"Is my word not good enough?" Stryker asked with mock concern.

The Goblin narrowed his eyes.

"Okay, okay. Scarlet?" Scarlet looked towards Stryker. "If the Goblin succeeds in killing Spider-Man himself, I'm letting him leave this island unharmed. If I do not honor that arrangement, I would like you to shoot me in the head with your gun."

Scarlet nodded once and then turned back so she was facing Peter and the others. The Goblin looked stunned by Stryker's statement. Peter could feel the tension build up in the room. Lila still had her gun aimed at Felicia, while Scarlet was standing still, presumably waiting to hear the next request from Stryker. The Goblin got to his feet, causing Charlie to back up towards the wall. Peter slightly shook his head at the Goblin. They didn't get this far for nothing.

"I'll do it," the Goblin said as his expression grew hard and resentful and he began advancing towards Peter.

"Wait," Peter protested as he held his hands out and took a couple steps back. "Can't you see he's misleading you? There are other ways we can get you out of here."

Normie still clung to Peter's leg. Peter barely heard Felicia yell for the kid to back away from the both of them, for he was too focused on the Goblin at this moment. He did not want to have to fight him. Normie made a small whimper and Peter felt the familiar whoosh of air next to him, and briefly glanced backwards to see that the kid was now standing against the wall.

"With what our chances are looking like right about now, I'd say this is my best option," the Goblin said as he cracked his knuckles.

Peter really wished he had his web shooters on him right now. The only weapon he had was the guard's gun. He didn't want to use it on the Goblin. If he accidentally killed him then Harry would die too.

"You're really just going to let him live after everything he's done to you?" Peter tried to convince him to change his mind; the Goblin was only about ten feet away from him, "And what about Harry? You said-"

"I know what I said!" the Goblin hissed through his teeth, stopping in his tracks. He then lowered his voice so only Peter could hear, "I don't _want_ to do this. If it's any consolation, I give you my word that I _will_ end him first chance I get."

There was an apologetic look in his eyes that Peter had never seen from the Goblin before. Peter frowned for a moment before nodding. When it came down to it, the Goblin looked out for himself first and foremost. It was a miracle that he had even helped them get this far. His spider sense went off just as the Goblin leapt forward at him, pulling his bowie knife from its sheath. Peter was just able to dodge the blade as it nearly sliced into his arm.

The Goblin swiftly spun around. Peter readied himself for his next move just as the blade was close to being thrust into his stomach. He had to use both of his hands on the handle to keep the knife from inching closer. The Goblin swung back with his free hand and punched Peter in the jaw with enough force to cause him to fly backwards into the wall.

Dammit! Peter thought to himself. Whatever Stryker did to him made him incredibly stronger. Peter briefly remembered their fight at the clock tower, where he actually had the upper hand over the Goblin.

He quickly tried picking himself up off the ground, but the Goblin was too fast and Peter got a solid kick in the abdomen. The Goblin picked him up by his neck and slammed him into the already cracked wall. His hands wrapped around Peter's neck and he began to squeeze. Peter desperately tried to pry his hands off of his neck, but it just made the Goblin press down even harder.

Peter opened his mouth, but no sound came out. Small white dots starting to blur his vision and he felt light headed. He knew he didn't have much time left before he completely ran out of air.

"I _have_ to do this," he heard the Goblin whisper harshly.

The Goblin unexpectedly let go of Peter's neck, but that was all it took. Peter roughly shoved him backwards so that way he could catch his breath. He held his throat, letting out a few raspy coughs before the Goblin went after him again.

"Peter!" somebody shouted.

Peter turned his head towards the direction of the voice. There was a small flash of blue in the Goblin's eyes and Peter knew that Harry had momentarily gotten control, but it was short lived. His eyes were back to an intense green within a moment and Peter's spider sense went off again.

He jumped upwards, clinging onto the bottom of the second story flooring, barely avoiding the Goblin's grasp.

"Hurry up." Scarlet said monotonously. "We still have other work to do."

The Goblin reached his arm behind his back, Peter assumed it was for another weapon. The wall behind him began to glow a bright orange color and Peter knew what it was a moment too late. The Goblin chucked a fireball at him, in which Peter tried to avoid but managed to have his leg singed by the fragmented pieces that shattered against the ceiling.

Peter quickly brushed the smoldering pieces off the bottom of his pants leg. When he looked back up, the Goblin was already forming another fireball in his hand. There was a brief movement above the Goblin that Peter looked towards, just as an arrow skimmed past his temple.

Hawkeye was standing on the second floor, with another arrow waiting in the bow ready to be fired.

"Really?" Peter heard from behind him.

The Goblin had let the fireball go out, presumably curious about the new addition in the room, so Peter felt it was safe to find out where that arrow had been shot at. He turned to see Scarlet pulling the arrow out of her arm, completely unfazed. The arrow dropped to the ground.

There was a whoosh of air that Peter felt and then a second later he felt it again. He looked back and forth, the guard Charlie looked like he was trying to find his gun. Normie, on the other side of the room, had just kicked something into one of the old prison cells.

"This could either be very good or very bad for us." the Goblin said casually.

Peter turned to him and saw that he was standing right next to him as if he wasn't just trying to kill him. Peter's spider sense wasn't going off directly, so he figured it would be fine to not move away from him, avoiding any attention being drawn to him right now.

"Why did you bring me here?" Clint demanded, holding his gaze on Scarlet.

"Dad?" Lila said in confusion, "Is that really you?"

Clint turned towards her. "Lila?"

Hawkeye lowered his bow for a moment before remembering the situation, and then brought it back up. Peter could see the disappointment in the man's face as he saw his daughter holding a gun to another person's head.

"I...work here. Why are you here?" she asked, voice shaking slightly.

"Red here told me she knew where you were. She found out that I'd been searching for you somehow." he gestured towards Scarlet with his bow, "I've been locked in that cell for weeks."

Lila looked back at Stryker. "Did you know he was here? Did you know that he is my father?"

"Yes, as a matter-of-fact, I did," Stryker said simply.

"Scarlet, can you please watch the traitor while I have a quick word with Stryker?" Lila asked in an even voice.

"Don't let something as trivial as this change whose side you're on," Scarlet said to her seriously as she took her place behind Felicia.

"The day just keeps getting more interesting, doesn't it?" the Goblin said in an amused voice, keeping his eyes on Stryker behind the glass.

"It sure does," Peter said, looking behind himself to see that Hawkeye still had an arrow ready to be fired at the next threat.

Lila paused in front of the glass room that Stryker was inside and crossed her arms. "Why did you take my father here?"

"For insurance purposes," Stryker replied as if it were obvious.

"I have been loyal to you and your cause since the day you brought me in. _I_ don't even need an implanted chip because I want to be here," Lila pointed out.

"I fail to see the problem. You joined us because you were angry with your father for not letting you join the Avengers. This is payback for his refusal to let you join."

"I didn't want this." Lila's raised her voice. "Just because my father and I don't see eye-to-eye doesn't mean I wanted him to be here. I want him off this island."

Stryker huffed out a laugh. "I can't do that yet, I still have testing to do with him."

"Testing?" Lila's eyes widened in confusion. "Why would you need to do any testing on him, he has no super human abilities whatsoever."

"I figured that because of his near super human agility, we may be able to experiment and see what kind of abilities we can create."

"So did you bring him here for insurance or to experiment on him?" Lila narrowed her eyes at Stryker.

"Remember what you just did to me in the hallway, Lila?" the Goblin said out of nowhere.

Peter raised a questioning eyebrow at him, but he slightly shook his head at him. Lila turned her head towards the Goblin and nodded once before turning back to Stryker. It was nearly thirty seconds before another word was spoken, she seemed to be concentrating on him.

"I'm not quite sure what you're trying to accomplish here-" Stryker began before Lila interrupted him.

"You've been lying to us," Lila said suddenly. "You hate mutants. You hate anyone with any kind of super human powers."

Stryker looked taken aback. "What? Why would- what are you-"

"For the last decade you've been kidnapping anybody who had special powers and you steal their DNA. You're been _killing_ most of us on purpose..."

"That's enough," Scarlet said, holding her gun to the back of Lila's head. "I will not have you speaking that way to him." she cocked the gun.

"Drop the gun!" Clint yelled. "This arrow is currently aimed at your head, Red. If you hurt her, I _won't_ miss."

Peter felt a nudge and looked at the Goblin, mouthing 'what' to him.

"I need you to get that device from Charlie over there. Just go with what I tell you, okay?" he said in a hushed voice.

"Why can't you get it?" Peter asked in a harsh tone, still fully not forgiving the Goblin for trying to kill him.

"Anybody with a chip in their head cannot touch that device, just in case of a situation like this I presume." The Goblin looked annoyed. "You and I are going to fight again, but we're going to move towards Charlie. Get the device, Parker. It's pretty simple."

Peter didn't even answer the Goblin. He took a furious swing, splitting the Goblin's lip so the blood splattered across his chin. The Goblin took his hand and wiped the blood off his face and then smiled smugly at Peter.

"That's what I'm talking about." He flashed a smirk and then leapt at Peter.

Automatically, Scarlet looked over in their direction. Lila swung back at Scarlet with as much force as she could, causing Scarlet's gun to fly across the room. Scarlet elbowed Lila hard in the kidneys, causing her to slouch over in pain, then gave her a knee to the face knocking Lila to the ground. Scarlet looked around for moment before she spotted her gun halfway across the room and walked briskly towards it. Peter saw another arrow shoot into Scarlet's arm just as the Goblin landed a punch on his right side, sending a shooting pain through his ribs.

Peter held his side for a moment, cursing under his breath. He saw the Goblin coming at him again and shifted himself to face towards Charlie. He was hit from the other side instead, and stumbled the opposite direction.

"He's _mine_ ," Peter heard the Goblin growl and looked up to see Mysterio about to land another punch on him.

"I'm helping you," Mysterio replied, but then hesitated when the Goblin glared at him.

"Stryker said I had to kill Parker _myself_. Back off and let me do my job before you end up like him." The Goblin gestured to the guard on the floor whose neck he had torn open.

Without another word, Mysterio turned and went the other way. Felicia bolted towards the gun and snatched it up as Scarlet was pulling the second arrow out from her arm and tossed it to the floor.

"Stop!" Felicia yelled at Scarlet as she pointed the gun towards her. "I have the gun now, so if you don't want to get shot, I suggest you stop."

Lila was just recovering and was trying to get to the stairs towards her father, but with everything happening around her it was proving difficult.

Scarlet smirked at Felicia. "I don't need a gun to kill you."

She leapt at Felicia, just as the gun went off, skimming her side. Scarlet slapped the gun out of her hands, brought her arm back and caught Felicia in the jaw.

Peter and the Goblin were inching their way closer to Charlie. The Goblin must have seen Scarlet hit Felicia because he paused in the middle of the fight, eyes locked on the two of them. Peter was hesitant to continue their fight.

As Felicia held her jaw, Scarlet kicked her hard right in the knee, causing an awful snapping sound to echo through the room. Felicia dropped to the ground in an agonized cry. The Goblin growled and went to lunge towards Scarlet, but Peter held him back.

"We need the device. He'll just turn it on if you attack her," Peter murmured to him, but the Goblin continued to try moving forwards.

Peter prayed that the attention was on Scarlet and Felicia, otherwise the Goblin's intentions were clear as day. He kept reminding himself he was only helping the Goblin in order to get Harry back.

"Stop, we need your help, otherwise none of us get out," Peter pleaded.

The Goblin stopped and looked back at Charlie. The guard was sweating and his eyes were glued onto the fight in the middle of the room; Scarlet and Felicia.

"Go get it. Now. We're close enough," the Goblin said through his teeth.

Goblin wasn't sure where all of this concern towards Felicia exactly came from, but he could only assume it was because of his and Harry's connection with each other.

"We need to get closer, what if he turns the device on?" Peter questioned.

"He thinks I'm still trying to kill you. He's not going to threaten my life to get you to stop," the Goblin said snidely.

Across the room Lila grabbed the gun out of nowhere and fired it at Scarlet without warning. It pierced through her shoulder.

Scarlet turned from Felicia, all focus on Lila now. Lila went to fire a second round, but the gun was out of bullets. She tossed it to the side of the room in anger. Felicia cradled her broken leg on the ground. Mysterio crept up behind her with one of his hand-made weapons in his hand. Just as he was about to bring the makeshift blade down on her, his entire body froze. Felicia turned her head around to see what the noise was, seeing Normie behind her.

"Thanks, kid." She smiled through the pain. Normie nodded and then sped off towards the other end of the room.

Peter walked swiftly up to the guard as most of his focus was on the middle of the room. Charlie turned at the last second and instinctually pressed the button on the device. Before Peter could react, the device was in his hands, the button already pressed to turn off the electricity, and Charlie was frozen in place on the ground. He felt a whoosh go past him and looked behind himself to see Normie checking up on the Goblin.

"You shouldn't have used your power on that guard. Parker could have taken care of him," the Goblin said in a shaky voice as he got to his feet. "You know that your freezing power drains a lot of your energy."

"I had to do something," Normie retorted before zipping off to the center of the room.

"I thought we were on the same team," Scarlet said as she advanced towards Lila. "And you had the gall to shoot me?" she smacked Lila hard in the face, sending her flying backwards.

Normie skidded to a halt in front of Scarlet. "Stop, Mom!" he pleaded.

Peter wondered why Clint wasn't interfering and trying to save his daughter. He looked up on the second floor and saw that Mysterio had gotten a hold of him. Peter could see the fury in his eyes as Scarlet hit his daughter again.

Scarlet ignored the protests of Normie. He tried to get her to stop once more before he attempted to use his freezing power on her. He put his hands forward and went to freeze her, but nothing happened. Scarlet grabbed Normie by the collar and lifted him off the ground.

"I told you what would happen if you _ever_ tried that again on me," Scarlet said in a dangerously calm yet menacing voice.

Normie struggled to get out of her grasp.

"Let him go!" Peter yelled suddenly.

He couldn't just stand there and watch as a little kid was about to get hurt.

"Everybody, stop!" Stryker commanded from the glass room.

Everyone turned their heads towards him as something on the side of his room began to move.

The large metal plates that were on the side of the glass room began to open, another small glass room began to extend through the floor. Once everything was done shifting, Peter noticed that the small glass room was actually two glass cells. Both of the cells had one door each, both doors of which you could only reach by going through Stryker's glass room first.

One of the cells were empty, the other one held...

"Andrew!" Peter called out to his son.

Andrew was alright from the looks of it, but Peter didn't want him to spend another minute in that cell. He took a few steps towards the glass room.

"Ah ah ah." Scarlet blocked his way, shaking her finger back and forth. Normie was being held in her other arm, still trying to struggle his way free.

"Now, everybody do exactly what I tell them to do. If anyone disobeys me or even hesitates, the following will happen; Andrew's cell chamber's outer vent will close off, and the inside one will pump in a highly poisonous gas, killing him in less than a minute. Mysterio will snap Hawkeye's neck and Scarlet here will do the same to Normie. Any objections?" Stryker asked.

Nobody said anything. Peter did notice a slight change in Mysterio's demeanor.

"Great. Now, Lila and Felicia, I want the both of you to the eastern side of the wall. Mysterio, please bring Hawkeye down here, and I would like you both to stand next to Charlie. Good, good!" he said in a false cheery tone as they all shuffled around.

Felicia had to drag herself to the side of the room because of her broken leg.

"Spider-Man. It looks like you are now in possession of the Goblin's disobedience device. It makes me wonder, with him trying to kill you, why haven't you pressed the button to incapacitate him yet?" Stryker asked with a devilish smile on his face.

"He only tried to kill me because you ordered it," Peter said through his teeth.

"Scarlet, take Normie and go stand next to Charlie and Hawkeye. Mysterio, please come forward and take the device from him." Stryker directed.

Scarlet took Normie to her appointed area quickly. Mysterio walked up to Peter, his hand out, requesting the device. Peter reluctantly put it into his hand, not wanting anyone else getting hurt. The empty cell inside the room suddenly opened up, along with the door to Stryker's glass room. Peter thought for a moment to go in there and pull Stryker out, but with Stryker right next to the control box, he didn't want him pressing any buttons to harm Andrew, or any of the others for that matter.

"Mysterio, please guide the Goblin to the empty cell in this room please. If he tries _anything_ , press the button on that device immediately." Stryker said to Mysterio, before turning to the Goblin. "You are to be in there until I figure out what to do with you." Stryker shook his head as if he were disappointed.

Peter swore he saw Mysterio whisper something to the Goblin before shoving him forward towards the glass room. Right when the Goblin passed through the doors to Stryker's room, several things seemed to happen at once. Mysterio tossed something into the glass room, Scarlet gasped and suddenly he couldn't see where Normie went, the doors to the glass room shut just as that room began to fill up with a white cloud, showing no visibility to what was happening inside. Mysterio smashed the device that he had taken from Peter.

The white cloud evaporated within ten-fifteen seconds. When it cleared, Peter saw that Normie was now inside of the glass room, smiling and waving at Peter. Andrew was still locked in his cell, but the empty cell now contained both the Goblin and a baffled looking Stryker.

"I do not like when people threaten to kill children," Mysterio said before mysteriously disappearing out of nowhere.

Peter remembered for a brief moment when Mysterio had been robbing a bank, he let the child go without much thought. Scarlet flew over to the glass box, furiously trying to punch in her code to open up the doors. Since the lockdown was still in progress, her code was useless. She banged her fist against the glass.

Without Scarlet to back him up, Charlie was practically useless against Hawkeye. Clint threw his head back, smashing against Charlie's face. As Charlie was holding his bleeding mouth, Clint ran and picked his bow up off the ground and readied it, keeping Charlie and Scarlet in his sight. Lila helped Felicia to her feet and they both quietly limped over to Clint.

Peter could see the Goblin's smug expression through the glass. He walked up to get closer to the room, wondering what could possibly happen next. Scarlet either didn't see or didn't care that Peter was so close to her and the room now.

"I'm going to make this really simple. Give us your code so we can turn off the lockdown and release Parker junior over there," the Goblin said to Stryker.

Stryker started to laugh and shook his head. "I'm not giving you my code, you fool! Do you know what you've done!? In order to open up any of these doors, you need my handprint scanned. There's no scanner in this room!"

The Goblin swung at him, hitting his jaw and knocking him to the ground. "There has to be another way. Give me the code, now!"

"Not going to happen." Stryker spit a mouthful of blood at him.

The Goblin growled and punched him multiple times in the face, stopping when he heard Stryker's nose crunch. He got up off the floor just as Stryker rolled to his side and spit out two bloody teeth onto the ground.

"Tell me the code or I will kill you right here." the Goblin snarled.

"If you kill me now-" Stryker rolled back over into a sitting position, "-then you're stuck in this room for good. Without the code and my hand print, you'll rot in here." He smiled at him, teeth stained with blood.

"If that's the way it has to be, then so be it." The Goblin took his bowie knife out of it's sheath. "Because if I'm not getting out of here, then neither are you. Last chance, you gonna give me that code?"

"Nope." Stryker smiled condescendingly at him.

"Fine. I've been waiting for this moment a long time anyways." the Goblin replied as he bent down, holding the knife above Stryker.

"Wait!" Peter yelled out. "If you kill him, Andrew will be stuck in that cell forever!"

The Goblin glanced at Peter momentarily, the corner of his mouth twitched up in an apologetic smile. Peter saw him mouth the word 'sorry' right before he swung the knife downwards towards Stryker's heart, only for it to stop a couple inches away.

Stryker began to laugh wildly. The Goblin tried once, twice, three times more to stab the laughing man. Each time the knife would stop inches from Stryker.

"I don't understand," the Goblin murmured.

"I could never fully trust any of you, you see." Stryker spit out another mouthful of blood. "So another handy tool that's inside that chip of yours, literally makes it impossible for you to kill your owner, me." Stryker pulled himself up a little straighter. "So how about you be a good little doggy and put the knife away."

The Goblin narrowed his eyes and looked around the room at everyone. Peter gets to see the Goblin's sadistic smile before he turns back to Stryker.

"What I'm about to do isn't going to kill you."

The Goblin held Stryker's arm down with one hand, and with the other, he took his knife and sliced Stryker's hand clean off. As Stryker pulled the bloody stump to his chest, yelling from the pain, the Goblin grabbed the severed hand and forced it through the slot in the door that was used to feed their captives.

Normie ran over and grabbed the hand and placed it near the scanner on the control box that Stryker was standing next to. "I still need the code to let you out of there." Normie called out to him.

"Give me the code now, or else the other hand comes off." the Goblin threatened.

Stryker glared at him defiantly.

The Goblin looked as if he were out of options. Stryker wasn't going to give him the code, and without the code, they were both going to be stuck in there. If Stryker died without giving the code, they were stuck in there. The Goblin slumped against the wall, a defeated look etched on his face.

"If you let him die, Harry is stuck in that cell too. Andrew, you, and Harry will all be locked in those cells forever. Please. Normie is going to need both of his parents." Peter pleaded with him.

At the mention of Harry, the Goblin seemed to have a new idea run through his head. He turned towards Peter.

"I'm just putting this out there for you to hear. You're not _that_ bad, Parker. After what we've been through, I _guess_ I don't hate you anymore. I still don't like you though," he said deadpan and then looked back at Stryker.

"If _I_ can't kill you, I think I know somebody who can." He brought his knife up to the side of his head.

"If you take that chip out, understand that you will no longer be the primary personality in that body. Harry Osborn will take over again and you'll be lucky to be in control once a month if that." Stryker spat at him. "You still won't be free."

"Anything is better than being owned like a dog." the Goblin said simply before pressing the knife into his flesh.

He pushed a finger into the open wound and then Peter saw him take out a small chip. The Goblin dropped the chip on the ground and smashed it with his boot. The blood running down the side of his face was already starting to slow and Peter knew that it was beginning to heal. Stryker backed up closer to the wall, even though there was not much more space to move in the small cell.

The Goblin- no, Harry- looked towards Peter. Peter could immediately tell that his friend was in control once more from the smirk growing on his face, not the malicious one he was used to seeing on the Goblin. The intense green color of his eyes were replaced with Harry's icy blue color.

"The code. Now," Harry demanded from Stryker.

Stryker must have known that he was in real trouble now. The Goblin might not have been able to kill him, but there was nothing stopping Harry from performing that task. Peter thought he was going to deny Harry the code, but he was proved wrong.

"7879537" Stryker gasped. He was growing more pale by the second. "Now I need to get out of here, I'm losing too much blood!"

"See, that wasn't so hard now, was it?" Harry bent down to Stryker's level. "Thank you so much, William."

Then Harry plunged the knife into Stryker's heart.

"NO!" Scarlet began banging on the wall again.

Stryker brought his wrist up to his mouth, pressing a small device that looked like a watch. "Activate Operation 1407: Scarlet."

Several things happened as Stryker said that phrase. The sirens and flashing red lights stopped. Stryker took his last breath and Scarlet fell to the floor.

"MJ!" Peter dropped to the ground to help her up. Suddenly, her whole body started to vibrate and right as Peter went to grab her, he was electrocuted and flung backwards.

Normie, now aware that the lockdown was lifted, opened up the cells with Harry and Andrew in them. All three of them exited the glass room quickly before anything made the doors shut again. A static noise began to fill the atrium, and a recorded voice began to speak. "Due to Operation 1407 being activated, this building will now self-destruct in five minutes."

"MJ? MJ!" Peter called out to her as her entire body continued to shake and convulse on the ground.

Harry ran over to one of the dead guards on the floor. He found the keys and tossed them to Clint. "Get those two in the truck parked right outside." he gestured at Felicia and Lila, before turning to Charlie. " _Help_ them. We'll be right out."

Charlie nodded wide-eyed and helped Felicia get to her feet. All four of them went out the front atrium doors and headed towards the front exit. Normie darted out of the room without saying anything.

"Andrew, follow them outside, I'll be right there," Peter said to his son as he tried to figure out how to pick up MJ without getting electrocuted.

He tried picking her up through the pain, but the moment he touched her he got flung back again.

"I'm not leaving you, Dad!" Andrew said, running to Peter's side.

"The building will self destruct in four minutes," the speaker said.

"Go to the truck, now!" Harry yelled to Andrew. "We'll be right behind you."

Peter nodded and gestured for Andrew to go outside. Andrew grudgingly obeyed. A moment later, Normie came back into the room.

"I let the guard know the building was going to explode and he had to get out of here," Normie told them. "We need to hurry!"

Normie followed Andrew outside.

"What's happening?" Harry asked Peter, looking at MJ convulsing on the ground.

"I- I don't know, man! I can't pick her up and she won't snap out of it!" Peter began to panic.

"The building will self destruct in three minutes." the speaker said.

"Let me try." Harry bent down to scoop MJ up, but he too got electrocuted and flung backwards. "What the hell?" he got up and shook himself off.

Peter heard Andrew and Normie calling for them from outside. The guard that was upstairs ran through the atrium and out the front doors.

"There has to be something we can wrap her in or something." Peter began wildly looking around the room.

He got within a few feet from her and was flung back. Peter got back up and tried getting close to her again, but now he was within ten feet from her and he could feel the electricity.

"We need to go." Harry said suddenly.

"I can't leave her." Peter said to him.

"We have just over two minutes before this building blows up." Harry told him.

"Which is why I can't leave her here!" Peter yelled.

Harry tried once more to help MJ, but the electricity seemed to be spreading in a way that wasn't natural. Both Peter and Harry kept backing up away from her body.

"Peter, man, we have to go, right now!" Harry urged him.

Andrew and Normie were continuing to call their names.

"You hear them outside? Do you really want them to lose all of us? Because you know if you go down then I'm staying too," Harry said with finality.

Peter knew that Harry was right. He couldn't stay in here, he would die and then Andrew and Violet would become orphans.

"I love you, Mary Jane," Peter said before bolting out the front door, Harry right behind him.

"Took you long enough, we were about to drive off!" Clint complained.

"Move over, I know the roads better than anyone here," Harry said as Clint moved over for him. Peter jumped in the back. Andrew, Normie, Felicia, Lila, and Charlie were in the back with him.

"The other two guards booked it into the jungle. I don't know where Mysterio is." Normie said, answering Peter's unspoken question.

Harry took off down the dirt road. Peter told him where Diego was waiting with the boat, and Harry knew the quickest way to get there. A minute later, the explosion was heard. Even from the distance they were, it sounded like violent thunder claps. Black smoke erupted in the form of a mushroom cloud.

Andrew looked sadly at the black cloud forming over the old prison. Peter knew that his son knew that his mother did not make it out of there. He couldn't even bring himself to say it, let alone think about it.

Harry made it out of the jungle and to the beach. He only had to drive down the beach about half a mile before Diego's boat was in view.

"That's your friend I'm assuming?" Harry asked and Peter nodded.

The truck slowed down and everybody started to hop out. Peter quickly ran up to the boat, where Diego, Violet, and Wolfsbane were waiting on the shore.

"Violet, you're okay!" Peter wrapped his arms around her.

Violet nodded and hugged him back. "You got Andrew, Normie, and Felicia too! Where's-" Violet began but she saw Peter's face shift to a frown and she knew.

Wolfsbane growled as Harry and Charlie walked up to the group.

"They're not here to hurt you," Peter told her, stepping in between them. "It's a long story, but he was being controlled by Stryker under a mind-controlling chip." Peter tried to explain to the red wolf. The wolf simply turned around and walked over to the shoreline.

"Are we all going to fit on that boat?" Normie asked Diego. "What if some of us don't fit and we have to stay here?"

Diego, who looked a little overwhelmed at all of these people, smiled at the little boy. "Don't worry, I make sure you all fit."

"Thanks for waiting for us." Peter smiled sadly at Diego.

"Looks like you helped a lot of people today." Diego said to him. "Let's get them off this island."

Peter and Harry helped swim Felicia to the boat and got her onto it, trying not to hurt her broken leg. Harry jumped back in and swam to the shore to see if anyone else needed help. Wolfsbane swam up to the boat, but needed help getting up into it as well. She refused to turn back into her human form until she was able to get some clothes to cover herself.

Andrew and Violet swam easily up to the boat, followed by Charlie, who Harry reluctantly agreed to let come back with them. He was done fighting for now, and just wanted to relax. Lila and Clint swam to the boat next, and Harry made sure Normie got to the boat safely.

The boat was made for eight people, but they managed to fit all eleven of them nicely. Normie had climbed onto Harry's shoulders because he wanted to 'watch for icebergs' even though they were pretty close to the equator. Violet had fallen asleep sitting on Peter's lap, and Wolfsbane curled up and went to sleep on the floor of the boat.

They had been on the boat for about an hour before anyone said anything.

"So..." Clint began, looking at Peter, "-your friend over there has done some pretty horrible things." he shifted his eyes over at Harry.

"Yeah." Peter shrugged his shoulders. "but, so has your daughter."

Lila looked down at her feet, hiding the embarrassment on her face.

"Yeah." Clint answered, nodding his head. Neither of them spoke for several minutes. "I assume neither of us will mention their names when we get back to the states?"

"That would be great." Peter smiled and Clint nodded once more before leaning against the side of the boat and dozed off.

"What's going to happen to all of us?" Andrew asked his father in a low murmur, so he didn't wake up his sister.

"I'm sure Clint and his daughter will go their own ways. Once we get to the mainland and get Wolfsbane some clothes, we can see if she needs help getting back home or not. Then, the rest of us can finally go home." Peter replied, not really answering for Charlie.

"Our home is gone," Andrew said guiltily.

Harry frowned and then smiled suddenly. "Just one of them."

"What?" Andrew questioned.

"Harry, no-" Peter began.

"Technically I gave it to you." Harry shrugged.

"Yeah, but you're alive, it's still your house," Peter retorted.

"Small details." Harry waved his hand. "No give backs."

"What are you talking about?" Andrew asked.

Peter snorted. "Harry gave me the mansion in his will. He is suggesting that, since our house burned down, we move there."

"Can we!?" Andrew practically shouted.

"Of course." Harry grinned at the boy, before quickly shutting his mouth. Peter knew he was self-conscious about how sharp his teeth were now.

"Fine, we'll stay there. But, you and Normie have to stay there too," Peter said.

This time Harry looked taken aback. "Oh no- we can find somewhere- I don't want to be in the way-"

"Harry, I'm sure you remember how many rooms that place has? There had to be at least twelve bedrooms alone!" Peter laughed.

"Fifteen," Harry corrected.

"Okay then, it's settled. For now, we will go back there, together." Peter said with certainty.

"You better not be leaving me out," Felicia said out of nowhere. Her head had been resting in Harry's lap.

"You were supposed to be asleep." Harry playfully pushed Felicia's hair into her face. "Now you're going to know where we were planning on hiding from you."

"Harry Osborn!" Felicia quickly shoved the hair out of her face. "I've already taken up too much of my time trying to get you back. You can't just get rid of me now."

Harry bent down and placed a kiss on Felicia's lips, nearly knocking Normie off his shoulders as he did it. Harry winked at her and laughed at her surprised expression. "You and I are a package deal."

"Oh great." Peter pretended to be sick. "You're telling me I have to live with her again?"

"Shut up, Parker," Felicia said without any venom in her voice.

She was in fact smiling, although she would never admit it. Violet shifted herself on Peter's lap. He hadn't realized she had woken up.

"So we get to all live together?" she asked him. "Like a family?"

"We are a family." Peter smiled.


	30. Chapter 30

EPILOGUE

Everything seemed... fuzzy.

The sound of shattering glass was the last thing that she remembered.

Her lungs ached as she took in a deep breath. There was a bitter smell in the air. She opened up her eyes to find herself in the jungle that surrounded her home for the past decade. Something felt different. Wrong.

There was a dull ache in her head, some kind of throbbing feeling.

That's when she remembered.

Harry Osborn had murdered Stryker. There was nothing that she could do to save him. Then there had been an intense pain that pulsed through her entire body. She vaguely remembered people shouting her name, but that was unimportant. Stryker was dead and now she had no purpose.

After the pain ended, she remembered gathering herself up off the floor. The only other people in the room were dead. The speaker was counting down to an explosion, and when she had come to there was only twenty seconds left. Instinct came over and she flew up into the air, smashing through the ceiling window. The force of the explosion had sent her flying into the jungle.

She found herself moving towards the building that Stryker had given her new life in. The black cloud of smoke hovered above it, proof of its destruction.

Most of the building was simply cinder block and ash now. Except... there was one area of the building that seemed to still be standing. One room in particular. It was covered in black soot and part of one of the walls had caved in slightly, allowing her to pull out some of the remaining wall to gain entry.

So this was Stryker's room. The one room in the entire building that she had not been given the privilege to be inside. A king sized bed was up against the wall on one side of the room, while the other side had one single filing cabinet with three drawers.

Curiosity got the better of her and she pulled open the top drawer. There were folders in there, labeled with names, pictures, and information about the people that had been brought to this island. There was also information about people that had not been there yet, some had little notes scribbled on the sides. One folder stood out in particular.

She briefly stared at the picture labeled 'Parker, Peter' before tossing it onto the ground, not bothering to return it to the drawer.

The second drawer contained many vials of red liquid. Blood. Each was labeled, and once again, they contained the names of the mutants and super humans that they had captured.

The third drawer simply contained two recording devices: one labeled Goblin and one labeled Scarlet. Not paying any attention to the first one, she picked up the second one and pressed play.

Stryker's voice began to speak from the device.

"If you are hearing this then that means that I am dead. Whoever performed that task, I hope you will make them pay dearly. Congratulations Scarlet, you have been chosen to take over where I have left off. The moment I activated Operation 1407 under your name, the chip in your head started to fuse with your tissue. There is no way to remove it now. All of my codes have now transferred to you. Parts of you from before and after the chip was implanted into your head are now merged together. Anyone else that had an implanted chip will now be dead. I have been collecting every single kind of mutant DNA to create the ultimate mutant. You will continue my work. Once you have collected every type, you will finish blending the DNA into a super strain which you will inject yourself with. _You_ will be the ultimate mutant. Your task will be to eradicate any kind of mutant or super human on our planet. Anyone who knows about this island or you must be killed. When you are finished, you will then find any human being out there who has the chance to pass on the mutant gene to their offspring and you will destroy them. Continue my work, Scarlet. I believe you can be the one to make the world right again."

Scarlet pocketed the recording device. There was a loud crash and she left the room to quickly investigate.

"Ah well, it looks like someone else survived," Mysterio called out to her, tossing a charred piece of building to the side. Part of his helmet was cracked, revealing his black hair.

Scarlet nodded and began to cross the piles of ash and smoldering pieces of building towards Mysterio.

"I had made it halfway across the island before I heard the explosion. How do we get off this island anyways?" he asked, not noticing the long piece of shrapnel that Scarlet had picked up from the ground.

"You won't."

The piece of shrapnel was thrust into Mysterio's chest. He made a strangled gurgling noise as his lungs filled with blood and slumped over to the ground where he died less than a minute later. Scarlet smiled.

"I will not disappoint you, Stryker."


End file.
